Our trust conceptualizations have benefited from discussions with Ellen Berscheid and Larry Cummings of the University of Minnesota. The authors also thank three anonymous reviewers from the Organizational Behavior division of the 1996 meeting of the Academy of Management for their comments on an earlier version of this paper. THE MEANINGS OF TRUST What does the word ‘trust ’ mean? Scholars continue to express concern regarding their collective lack of consensus about trust’s meaning. Conceptual confusion on trust makes comparing one trust study to another problematic. To facilitate cumulative trust research, the authors propose two kinds of trust typologies: (a) a classification system for types of trust, and (b) definitions of six related trust types that form a model. Some of the model’s implications for management are also outlined. 2 THE MEANINGS OF TRUST “...trust is a term with many meanings. ” (Williamson, 1993: 453) “Trust is itself a term for a clustering of perceptions. ” (White, 1992: 174) Scholars and practitioners widely acknowledge trust's importance. Trust makes cooperative endeavors happen (e.g., Arrow, 1974; Deutsch, 1973; Gambetta, 1988). Trust is a key to positive interpersonal relationships in

In this paper we investigate the relationship between supplier trust in the buyer and transaction costs and information sharing in a sample of 344 supplier-automaker exchange relationships in the U.S., Japan, and Korea. Our findings indicate that perceived trustworthiness reduces transaction costs and is correlated with greater information sharing in supplier-buyer relationships. Moreover, the findings suggest that the value created for transactors, in terms of lower transaction costs, may be substantial. In particular, we found that the least trusted automaker spent significantly more of its face-to-face interaction time with suppliers on contracting and haggling when compared to the most trusted automaker. This translated into procurement (transaction) costs that were five times higher for the least trusted automaker. Finally, we argue that trust is unique as a governance mechanism because it not only minimizes transaction costs, but also has a mutually causal relationship with information sharing which also creates value in the exchange relationship. Other governance mechanisms (e.g., contracts, financial hostages) are necessary costs incurred to prevent opportunistic behavior but do not create value beyond transaction cost minimization. Our findings provide empirical evidence that

Firms seek products, processes, and technologies that add value to their offerings in an effort to remain competitive. The purpose of this research is to explore Extranet linkages between business partners, how they impact business practices and how they add value in business relationships. Extranets are extended Intranets connecting multiple

*The authors particularly thank Jackson Nickerson and Bart Hamilton for helpful suggestions in

Application Service Provision emerged in the late 1990s as a viable method for remote delivery of software to multiple clients. This form of outsourcing differs from traditional outsourcing on aspects such as attributes of vendors and clients, contracts coverage and length, and functions and customization offered. Such differences are expected to result in a different pattern of relationships between Application Service Providers (ASPs) and their clients. This paper compares traditional outsourcing with ASP model, and proposes a research model and propositions on vendor-client relationship development based on prior empirical work, popular media, and theoretical perspectives from economic and marketing literature. A profile of an actual ASP is provided for illustration. In addition to providing insight into this growing form of outsourcing, this paper rectifies a prior client-centric bias in outsourcing research by considering both the vendor and the client’s point of view on relationship development.

The growing use of Internet in New Zealand provides a developing prospect for E-marketers. If E-marketers know the factors affecting online New Zealand buyers ’ behaviour, and the relationships between these factors and the type of online buyers, then they can further develop their marketing strategies to convert potential customers into active ones, while retaining existent online customers. This paper is part of larger study, and focuses on factors which online New Zealand buyers keep in mind while shopping online. It also investigates how different types of online buyers perceive websites differently. This research found that website design, website reliability/fulfilment, website customer service and website security/privacy are the four dominant factors which influence consumer perceptions of online purchasing. The four types of online New Zealand buyers; i.e., trial, occasional, frequent and regular online buyers; perceived the four website factors differently. These buyers have different evaluations of website design and website reliability/fulfilment but similar evaluations of website security/privacy issues, which implies that security/privacy issues are important to most online buyers. The significant discrepancy in how online purchasers perceived website design and website reliability accounts for the difference in online purchase frequencies. Key words: Internet, website, online New Zealand buyers, shopping behaviour. 1.

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This article examines consumers' reactions to the provision of direct access to uncensored competitor price information within an electronic store. Based on notions derived from signaling theory, prior research on trust, and attribution theory, we propose that the facilitation of such access may have a positive impact on consumer preference for an online retailer. Furthermore, we predict that this effect will be moderatedby how attractive a vendor's prices are. The results of a laboratory experiment demonstrate the possibility that a retailer's act of providing access to uncensored competitor price information may result in enhanced long-term preference for that vendor, especially if the latter's prices are neither clearly superior nor obviously inferior to those of its competitors. Finally, this positive effect of facilitating access to competitors' prices on consumer preference is mediated by the perceived trustworthiness of the online retailer.

Trust is an essential construct of actor bonds in the IMP framework (Håkansson and Snehota 1995), and is also known to be important for inter-firm relationships (Håkansson and Snehota 1995; Morgan and Hunt 1994). Trust has been conceptualised as a multi-dimensional construct in previous business-tobusiness research, with the two dominant theoretical dimensions of benevolence or goodwill on the one hand (Ring and Van de Ven 1992) and confidence, credibility or predictability that a partner may be relied upon, on the other (Anderson and Weitz 1989). These theoretical dimensions are recognised in early inter-firm research by Schurr and Ozanne (1985) who used the inter-personal definition of trust developed by Blau (1964) and Rotter (1967). However, some doubt has arisen as to whether these theoretical dimensions exist, with Doney and Canon (1997) finding that they could not discriminate empirically between the dimensions of benevolence and credibility. In addition, most papers have resorted to a global operationalization of trust, so discounting the question of dimensionality. After a review of some elements of trust and its measurement in the inter-firm literature, this paper presents empirical evidence that trust can be treated as a global measure for inter-firm research. This evidence is based on a survey of 83 principals and

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