In Advertising We Trust: Religiosity's Influence on Marketplace and Relational Trust

Abstract

Trust is a critical component of marketing for both brands and consumers. Competing theories suggest that high-religiosity consumers could be either more or less trusting of marketing. Thus, this article explores religiosity's influence on broad marketplace trust that influences more specific relational trust in the context of advertising messages. Study 1 shows that marketplace and relational trust positively mediate the relationship between religiosity and product evaluations. Studies 2 and 3 test moderators to this relationship based on three dimensions of religiosity: affective, behavioral, and cognitive.