Trust in the financial services context: a meta-analysis

Abstract

PurposeThis article presents a systematic framework with a meta-analytic approach to finding various antecedents, consequents and moderating effects of trust in financial services.Design/methodology/approachA meta-analysis of 165 articles was performed, which generated 272 observations in a cumulative sample of 86,968 respondents.FindingsThe results of this meta-analysis demonstrated seventeen antecedents of trust constructs and four consequents. Most of these relationships were meaningful and consistent. The authors also found some significant moderators related to culture (individualism, masculinity and long-term orientation) and context (innovation index and device type).Research limitations/implicationsThis meta-analysis reviewed the relationships found throughout the theoretical framework about the trust construct in financial service contexts, identifying new paths for future research. Some limitations, such as the non-use of qualitative studies and the selection of concepts, exist in the secondary data and should be noted.Practical implicationsThe present study can assist financial system managers in decision-making because the findings from the meta-analysis are more consistent than those from traditional primary surveys.Originality/valueThis research tested the impact of antecedents, consequents and moderators of trust in the financial services sector and presented significant results using a meta-analytic review. This meta-analysis contributes to the marketing literature by offering a set of empirical generalizations, including relationship coefficients and fail-safe calculated numbers (FSN).