How do corporate association influence customer relationship? The effects of different types of trust/ Yi Xie

This study uses the term of corporate associations to represent all the information that a person holds toward a specific firm, and differentiates two key sub-dimensions of corporate ability associations (CAA) (i.e. product quality and innovative ability) and corporate social responsibility associations (CSRA) (i.e. philanthropic responsibility and ethical responsibility). Further, a conceptual model is proposed to investigate how these associations enhance customer relationship strength through different aspects of trust. According to distinct sources, this study examines competence-based trust, benevolence-based trust, and identity-based trust. A survey on young consumers is conducted focusing on corporate brands providing electronic products in China. Results support most hypotheses. Specifically, CAA can enhance competence-based and benevolence-based trust while having no influence on identity-based trust. CSRA affects relationship strength mainly through non-competence-based trust. Three categories of trust all contribute to enhancing the company–customer relationship, and interestingly identity-based trust is the most effective driver of relationship strength.