The influence of corporate image on consumer trust: A comparative analysis in traditional versus internet banking

To analyze the relationship between corporate image and consumer trust in the context of financial services distribution.

This paper analyzes the causal relationship that exists between corporate image and consumer trust in the financial services distribution through traditional channels, as well as over the internet. This paper also analyzes the moderating effect of relationship duration on the influence of the corporate image on trust.

The results obtained show that in distribution through traditional channels no significant differences exist in the intensity of the effect of the image on trust in terms of the relationship duration. Nevertheless, significant differences in the financial services distribution over the internet have been observed.

The significant influence that image exerts on consumer trust shows us that corporate image becomes a key tool for the management of trust in financial services distribution.

Despite the importance that researchers have assigned to the variables of corporate image and trust, much of the work so far is in the initial phase of development. Thus, the majority of the works have been approached from a fundamentally theoretical perspective, or else the empirical testing has been carried out in an indirect way, based on factors that form part of the image or are related to it. Because of this, today there is no research that has empirically evaluated the role played by corporate image in the levels of trust of the consumer of financial services.