Sources of Consumer Distrust of Financial Services Marketing Practices

Abstract

In recent years, the volume of research on the public’s lack of trust in business and government has significantly grown. Research has, for example, focused on drivers of public distrust in political entities and elected officials (Hetherington and Husser 2012), perceptions of trustworthiness of business leaders (Kramer 2009), and drivers of trusting relationships within organizations (Coutu 1998). In much of this research, the perspective of the inquiry has been on general levels of trust, both internally within organizations (Hurley 2006) and externally involving parties with competing interests (e.g., Hopkins 2011). While the accumulated research has provided a general macro view of trust, very little research has been conducted to pinpoint the sources of consumer distrust in specific business practices and especially related to financial services marketing practices.