The Critical Role of Interpersonal Liking in Building

Abstract

Most research devoted to trust in long term channel relationships has focused on trust between the buyer firm and the seller firm, i.e., trust as a firm-level construct. This firm-level focus tends to obscure and underestimate the power of the day-to-day relationship that emerges within the buyer-seller dyad. On a regular basis, the interpersonal relationship between individuals who carry out sales and other boundary liaison tasks is likely to influence the strength or weakness of the ties between firms, since it is through this dyad that the "relationship" is actually manifested. Here, we explore the development of buyer trust in the sales rep.

Previous research has generally focused on more cognitive antecedents of trust between buyers and sellers, i.e., more impersonal, detached, and dispassionate analytical antecedents such as a common value system and frequency of interaction. Researchers have paid less attention to the role of personal and emotional factors such as the buyers liking for the rep. Liking, as a basis for trust, creates a personal attachment, thus reinforcing economic bonds, and its role in the dyad should not be overlooked. The role of liking is richer and qualitatively different from these more cognitive factors. It is not that these other factors (e.g., common interests and shared outlook) become irrelevant for trust; they may still play an important role in enhancing liking and thus, may indirectly influence trust. Furthermore, it is likely that, as the relationship between the buyer and the sales rep matures, the buyers liking for the sales rep takes the foreground and becomes an even more critical determinant of that buyers trust, while the more cognitive elements of trust recede into the background and cease to have any direct relationship with trust.