MEDIATING EFFECTS OF CUSTOMER’S TRUST

2.7.1 Social competence → affective trust → salesperson performance

Based on the competence-based perspective and previous research, this study is to examine whether affective and cognitive trust mediate the relationship between social and professional competence and salesperson’s performance. Two processes may explain this linkage (Dirks & Skarlicki, 2009; Lewis & Weigert, 1985; Mayer & Gavin, 2005). The first link between social competence and salesperson’s performance, based on social exchange theory, is that customers engage in exchange relationships with salespersons because they expect that, over time, they can derive benefits from doing so (Blau, 1964). To achieve performance-related benefits, individuals seek exchange relations with others who have something valuable to offer. Hence, from a social exchange perspective, trust might decrease search and transactions costs, economize information acquisition and provision. We expect that the social competence (e.g., social skills) factor plays a central role in exchange relationships to enhance sales performance(Dirks & Skarlicki, 2009).

The second link between social competence and salesperson’s performance is based on several theories. From the social competence perspective(Baron & Markman, 2003), social competence builds skills that enable salespersons to facilitate relationship processes, which have a direct impact on performance. Similarly, social cognitive theory suggests that “the level of competence dictates the outcomes, [and] the types of outcomes people anticipate depend largely on their beliefs of how well they will be able to perform in given situations”

(Bandura, 1989)(p. 118). Social competence expresses a salesperson’s ability to recognize his or her own emotions and the customer’s emotions in successful social interactions.

Several studies have suggested that service employees with whom the customer interacts are able to confirm and build trust in social interaction to reduce costs of negotiation and the incidence of conflict (Oliver & Swan, 1989; Zaheer, McEvily, & Perrone, 1998). From a theoretical perspective, it can be argued that customers may initially require more assistance in gaining confidence generated by the level of care and concern, feelings of security, and perceived strength of the relationship (Johnson & Grayson, 2005). Thus, salespersons who express high affect-base trust in customers and who generate successful interpretations in

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response to customer’s affect were shown as more effective. As argued by Doney and Canon (1997), repeated interaction enables the party to interpret prior outcomes better, providing a basis for assessing predictability.

Past studies based on social exchange theory (Blau, 1964) have found evidence of a positive relationship between trust and job outcomes (Dirks & Ferrin, 2002). Other empirical evidences, for example, results from Johnson and Grayson’s study (2005) that affective trust contributes significantly to a customer’s willingness to meet with a service provider in the future suggest that affective trust facilitates relationship processes, which have a direct impact on economic outcomes (Anderson & Narus, 1984).

Hypothesis 4: Customer’s affective trust in salesperson will mediate the relationship between social competence and (a) objective salesperson’s performance, and (b) subjective salesperson’s performance.

2.7.2 Professional competence → cognitive trust → salesperson performance

This study regarded cognitive trust as the mediator between professional competence and salesperson’s performance and the relationship involved upon several theories. For example, social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1989; Bandura, 2001)suggested“people judge the correctness of their predictive and operative thinking againstthe outcomes of their actionsin this metacognitive activity, the effects that other people’s actions produce,what others believe, deductions from established knowledge and what necessarilyfollows from it”(p. 10).

Customers who trust their salesperson expend fewer social cognitive covering their backside can focus their attention on performance.

While cognitive trust is knowledge-driven and related to customer’s beliefs about salesperson reliability or dependability, it made decision efficiently by simplifying the acquisition and interpretation of information from actors (McEvily, Perrone, & Zaheer, 2003).

In addition, a customer may perceive that the salesperson must have sufficient expertise to

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accomplish a task that advances the customer have interest and solutions (Wood et al., 2008).

Professional competence base allowed to feel confident that a salesperson sought out knows what customer is talking about and is worth listening to and learning from (Abrams, Cross, Lesser, & Levin, 2003).

Research has integrated to identify antecedents of trust in several disciplines and to provide a theoretical framework(Doney & Cannon, 1997; Moorman et al., 1993). For example, a salesperson’s professional knowledge builds a customer’s trust by increasing the customer’s confidence that the salesperson can deliver on his or her promises through the capability process that is one of five trust-building processes (Doney & Cannon, 1997). The service provider’s expertise is an antecedent of cognitive trust, and sales effectiveness is a consequence of cognitive trust. Johnson and Grayson (2005), while Doney and Canon (1997) argued that cognitive trust relies on the assessment of salesperson’s professional abilities and reliability and may develop through the capability process when a customer judges that the salesperson is able to deliver on promises. Repeated interaction enables the customer to interpret prior outcomes better, providing a basis for assessing predictability. Consequently, this study argued the salesperson’s professional competence links with the cognition of trust and enhances the impact of cogntive trust on sales performance.

Crosby et al. (1990) showed that a customer’s perception of a salesperson’s expertise in the basic product line is a significant direct predictor of sales effectiveness through its impact on customer trust. Johnson and Grayson (2005) found that service provider expertise is an antecedent of cognitive but not affective trust. Building on these theoretical arguments and empirical evidence, this study proposed that social competence contributes to the creation of affective trust, which, in turn, produces better salesperson’s performance. Therefore, this study proposed that professional competence contributes to the creation of cognitive trust, which enhances salesperson’s performance.

Hypothesis 5: Customer’s cognitive trust in salesperson will mediate the relationship between professional competence and (a) objective salesperson’s performance, and (b) subjective salesperson’s performance.

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