Trust Formation at the Growth Stage of a Business-to-Business Relationship

A significant proportion of the relationship marketing research conducted in the area of trust has examined this critical relationship variable as stable over time. However, as a relationship constantly grows and develops, it is argued that trust will develop in different ways depending on the stage of the lifecycle in which the relationship exists. This research uses a case study methodology to explore trust development at the critical relationship growth stage of the business-to-business lifecycle. Findings suggest that three types of trust lead to the generation of total trust at the relationship growth stage. In order of importance, they are: (1) Competency/ability trust, (2) Goodwill/benevolence trust, and (3) Contractual/integrity trust. The contribution of this paper lies in the identification of the variables that lead to these forms of trust, thus producing total trust at the relationship growth stage.