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Antecedents Of Trust: Establishing A Boundary Condition For The Relation Between Propensity To Trust And Intention To Trust

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Abstract

Two studies were conducted to examine the antecedents of intention to trust proposed by Mayer, Davis, and Schoorman [1995, Academy of Management Review, 20(3), 709–734]. In their model, intention to trust is influenced by the perceived characteristics of the trustee and the predisposition of the trustor. We found that perceived ability, benevolence, and integrity of the trustee predicted an individual’s intention to trust. Propensity to trust, that is, an individual’s disposition to trust, correlated with intention to trust when information about trustworthiness was ambiguous, but did not correlate with intention to trust when information about trustworthiness was clear. The notion of strong and weak situations is used to argue that situational strength is a boundary condition of the relation between propensity to trust and intention to trust.

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Correspondence to Harjinder Gill.

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Gill, H., Boies, K., Finegan, J.E. et al. Antecedents Of Trust: Establishing A Boundary Condition For The Relation Between Propensity To Trust And Intention To Trust. J Bus Psychol 19, 287–302 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-004-2229-8

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