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A society in which trust and trustworthiness do not exist is doomed to fail. The same accounts not only for any personal relationships but also for business alliances and partners. In the time of globalisation, firms and companies are “forced” to make alliances in order to compete on the international market. Any horizontal or hierarchical business approach cannot survive on its own which is why business loners are rare in the field.
The very principle of relationship marketing is based on the establishment, nurture, development and maintenance of prospective and existing relationships by managers with all stakeholders (Morgan and Hunt: 1994). This also means that one company’s success is linked to its partners’ productivity. The most successful business relationships are those in which companies pursue common goals. Goals need to be clearly defined and revisited regularly. The mutual goal is to always promote commitment and trust by setting up mutually beneficial projects, giving clear instructions for the kind of relationship and, moreover, practising an open-communication approach. In order to build up a successful business relationship and be able to maintain it – may it be between businesses themselves or between businesses and customers or vice versa – trust and trustworthiness have to be maintained from both sides. However, what are the concepts of trust and trustworthiness? And what distinguishes the both of them? And is trust measurable? And why is important for all but especially online business scenarios?
Simply put, trust is when someone believes that the person/company/website will act on the person’s behalf in the best possible way. Hence, if we make an online payment and give the according company our credit card details, we will expect that the trusted company will not misuse these details to their own profit, i.e. overcharge us or clear our bank account. Therefore, the truster trusts the trustee if the trustee acts on the truster’s expectations. For us to be able to give out these crucial details, the company has to come across as trustworthy.
A research by Ermisch, et al. conducted in 2009, relates to the trustworthiness of strangers. 43% of respondents, who are willing to trust a complete stranger, have been rewarded only half the time. Transferring this concept to online shopping, it means that merely half of the UK’s population is willing to trust online companies – which in a wider sense are complete strangers to their consumers and customers. The same research states that trust increases with age. This finding may turn out to be controversial in the online shopping environment considering the grey market and their willingness to trust the virtual world.
On the other hand, more and more public institutions started to use the Internet facilities for a better and easier communication with people. Nowadays, all the governments make use of the Internet’s potential in order to improve their daily processes, but also to harmonize with the citizens’ demands.
Which factors influence the level of trust people have in e-Government services?
In a survey carried out by Sofia Elena Colesca among Romanian citizens, not only age and privacy concerns, but also organization trustworthiness and perception of technology have an impact on people’s trust. While a higher level of trustworthiness and perception have a positive impact, the mistrust in online applications might become an impediment for e-Government services.
In 2008, Wauters and Lorincz showed in a research that only 124 millions of Europeans utilise e-Government services, while the majority doesn’t present a favourable attitude towards the usage of online services in relation with public institutions. Moreover, the trust in e-Government services is strongly influenced by the trust people put in the Government and in the Internet. For example, if citizens do not trust their Government, but demonstrate high levels of trust in Internet applications, they might use the power of the Internet against the Government’s image and, in turn, the e-government services will become questionable. However, once the trust is gained, this could lead to an active participation of citizens in the delivery of public services. Organizational trustworthiness and prosperity of trust have a major contribution for the development of trust in e-Government services.
Trustworthiness is seen as an expectation of a person to another one to complete a certain action. In most situations the expectations are based on social norms. This is defined when not taking advantage of a vulnerability which is created by another. (Ben-Ner and Haldarsson: 2010). If you are an online business owner, one of the most significant problems that may occur, is trustworthiness: you have to convince your customers that there is more to your website than just the beautiful design which, at best, meets the expectations of customer-friendly usability. An important task is to assure the users that the image promoted is reliable. Once this reliability has manifested itself in the consumers’ minds, they are more likely to return to that according website and make further purchases. Ideally, customers will climb up the loyalty ladder. For this to happen, the website owner has to ensure that his services are not only trustworthy, but also reliable and sufficient. A proper and not time-consuming payment method may enhance the website validation process that each individual customer goes through as to evaluate and consider future purchases. Customer service, therefore, is not only vital in the offline but also the virtual shopping and services world. The higher the levels of customer related services, the more likely the company is likely to be rated as “trustworthy”. Most researchers, furthermore, find that confidence and experience are two major components of trustworthiness, the latest being a result from evaluation of several dimensions.
In conclusion, the society we live in is one where trust and trustworthiness are becoming more and more important. By all appearances, these concepts are becoming increasingly applicable in the IT world and both go hand in hand with each other.
References:
· Ermisch, J., et al. (2009). Measuring people’s trust, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, 172, pp.749-769
· Ben-Ner, A., & Halldorsson, F. (2009), Trusting and trustworthiness: What are they, how to measure them, and what affects them, Journal of Economic Psychology, 31, pp. 64-79
· Colesca, S.E. (2009). Increasing E-Trust: A Solution to Minimize Risk in E-Government Adoption, Journal of Applied Quantitative Methods, 4, pp. 31-44
· Hanai, T., & Oguchi, T. (2009). How do consumers perceive the reliability of online shops?, Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 3(2)
· Mayer, R.C., et al. (1995). An integrative model of organizational trust, Academy of Management Review, 20, pp. 709-734
· Morgan, M., & Hunt, S.D. (1994). Relationship Marketing in the Era of Network Competition, Journal of Marketing Management, 3, pp. 18-28
· Stewart, K.J., & Malaga, R.A. (2009). Contrast and Assimilation Effects on Consumers’ Trust in Internet Companies, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 13, pp. 71-93