The influence of online and offline brand trust on consumer buying intention

Purpose: The study tests a model that considers online brand trust in different nonbrand-owned touchpoints as a multifactorial construct constituted by: social network influencers, bloggers, online retail platforms and brand-related user generated content. Furthermore, it examines the influences that offline and online brand trust exert on consumer buying intention. Design/methodology/approach: A convenience sample of 3,335 total individuals participated in the survey. Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses. Findings: Online brand trust is significantly influenced by trust in all investigated nonbrand-owned touchpoints. Both offline and online brand trust positively influence buying intention. Research limitations/implications: Whereas brand trust is considered a multidimensional construct that includes both cognitive and affective aspects, in addition to individuals' personality traits, the present study only investigated the rational dimension of the brand trust paradigm. Moreover, this study examined the influence of brand trust on consumers' buying intention and not overt behavior. In addition, even though the extant literature suggests that the relation between trust and behavioral outcomes may vary across cultures, no test of the possible influences that culture exerted on brand trust and BInt was run. Finally, given the convenience sampling method used in this research, statistically significant surveys would provide a more solid basis for the investigated phenomenon, and they would enable an appropriate generalization of the findings. Practical implications: To build brand trust and favour buying intention, marketers should monitor and influence the online touchpoints that are partially under or totally out of their control, and reconceive and manage physical stores. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the stream of literature on online brand trust by proving that it is a multifactorial construct resulting from trust in different non-proprietary online entities and pointing out the prevalent role that physical stores play in shaping consumer buying intention. It also indicates that a trust transfer effect takes place between different online information sources and offline outlets.