주로 단일 차원으로 간주되어 온 기업 이미지 개념에 대하여, 최근에는 기업 능력과 사회적 책임에 관한 연상으로 구분하여 접근하려는 연구가 이루어지고 있다. 본 연구에서는 두 가지 유형의 기업 연상이 두 차원의 신뢰를 거쳐 소비자의 기업 및 제품에 대한 태도에 영향을 미치는 연구모형이 설정되었다. 먼저, Doney and Cannon(1997)이 정리한 신뢰형성 과정과 호혜성의 원리 등을 바탕으로 기업 연상이 기업에 대한 신뢰로 연결되는 관계를 설명하였고, 신뢰는 신뢰 전이와 불확실성 및 위험감소 메커니즘을 통하여 소비자의 태도에 영향을 미칠 것으로 제시되었다. 또한, 신뢰의 차원에 따라 영향경로가 다를 것으로 예측하였다. 설문조사 결과는 본 연구모형을 지지하는 것으로 나타났다. 먼저, 기업 능력 연상은 신용 차원의 신뢰, 사회적 책임 연상은 호의성 차원의 신뢰와 정의 관계를 가지는 것으로 보고되었다. 나아가 신용 차원의 신뢰와 호의성 차원의 신뢰는 각각 기업에 대한 태도에 긍정적인 영향을 끼쳤으며, 이는 궁극적으로 제품에 대한 태도로 연결되었다. 특히, 신용 차원의 신뢰는 제품태도에 직접적으로 영향을 행사하는 것으로 분석되었다. 또한 본 연구모형은 단일차원의 신뢰가 매개하는 대안모형이나 직접 효과를 설정한 대안모형, 혹은 기업 연상이 두 차원의 신뢰에 모두 영향을 미치는 대안모형보다 설명력이 우월하다는 결과도 제시되었다. 마지막으로, 기존 연구와의 차별점을 포함하여 본 연구가 마케팅문헌에 기여하는 바를 논의하였고, 기업의 마케팅활동에 시사하는 점을 제시하였으며, 본 연구가 지닌 한계점과 향후 연구에 대한 몇 가지 제안을 제공하였다.
The theory of customer-based brand equity emphasizes the importance of brand awareness and brand image or associations in building a strong brand. Marketing scholars have recently begun to identify the two types of corporate associations, that is, corporate ability(CA) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) associations, which had long been conceptualized as a unidimensional construct of corporate image in the literature. In line with the new research stream, we develop a research model concerning how CA and CSR associations are related to credibility-based and benevolence-based trust, which in turn will affect consumer attitudes toward company and product. Our model differs from the previous ones in that both CA and CSR associations are included in a single model, two dimensions of trust are used as a key mediator as apposed to the traditional one-dimensional trust, trust is conceptualized at a corporate level rather than at a product level, and trust has both a direct and indirect effect on product evaluations. In addition to testing the hypothesized paths in the model, we pit it against three alternative models, that is, one that has a complete set of paths from CA and CSR associations to credibility- and benevolence- based trust, the other with both associations and trusts as antecedents and with no mediator, and a third with the overall trust as a mediator. First of all, we argue that corporate associations are rather specific and superficial, largely formulated by consumers` past and present experiences with a firm, whereas trust is abstract and deep, and incorporates vulnerability for uncertainty and expectations about future behaviors. Then we try to predict the relationship between associations and trust, based on Doney and Cannon(1997)`s trust development processes. First, firms tend to make huge investments in building favorable associations about themselves among consumers. Since opportunistic behaviors endanger the valuables assets accumulated, consumers would perceive firms unlikely to engage in those behaviors and trust those with positive associations. Second, consumers tend to feel thankful for and appreciate firms` efforts to provide more values for them, and perceive certain reciprocity toward the firms. These positive feelings will lead to consumers` trust to the firms. Third, a well-established set of associations are an outcome of long and enriched interactions between a firm and its consumers, which implies that consumers would be experienced and knowledgeable about the firm. This can be instrumental to building trust toward the firm. Finally, credibility-based trust is likely formed when consumers believe a firm to have an ability and capability of fulfilling its promises, mostly about providing high quality products with good prices. Corporate capability associations contain relevant information for this. On the other hand, benevolence- based trust has to do with intentions and motives, which can be inferred by firms` CSR activities and associations. All together, these suggest a positive relationship between CA associations and credibility- based trust, and between CSR associations and benevolence-based trust. In conclusion, our model proposes that consumers are likely to build trust in the company which has favorable and strong corporate associations. It also proposes that trust will have a positive impact on consumer attitudes because it is able to reduce consumers` perceptions of risk or uncertainty in the purchase process, and can be directly transferred to the attitudes as a cue or heuristics. Moreover, the two dimension of trust are expected to follow different routes of influence. A survey was conducted with three-hundred and ten respondents. They were randomly assigned to one of the ten actual companies operating in the Korean marketplace, varying by origin, size, and industry. The structural equation modeling is used to examine the validity of the proposed model and test individual paths. First of all, the analysis suggests a fair level of fit for the proposed model based on several criteria, and all of the measures included demonstrate a high level of reliability and validity (i.e., convergent and discriminant validity). As for the hypothesized paths, the results confirm that all of the them are supported. First, CA associations have a significant positive relationship with credibility-based trust, and CSR associations are positively related to benevolence-based trust. Second, both dimensions of trust show strong and positive influences on respondents` attitudes toward company, which leads to favorable attitudes toward its products. In addition, credibility-based trust directly affect consumers` product attitudes. Lastly, it is demonstrated that the proposed model outperforms the three alternative models, that is, one with full effects, the other with no mediator, and a third with the one-dimensional trust as a mediator, on most of the evaluation criteria. In conclusion, we discuss how the present research is placed in the literature on corporate image or associations and trust, focusing on its differences from previous studies as well as theoretical contributions. As for practical implications, our research emphasizes that it will not be sufficient to build strong and favorable corporate associations, and that firms should take it up to a deeper and more abstract level of customer trust when designing and implementing marketing strategies. Finally, the authors suggest a few directions for future research to consider such as using experimental approaches to establish causal effects between the constructs, identifying potential moderators for the relationship between associations and trust, and examining the impact of the independent variables on other consequences including customer loyalty, customer lifetime value or customer equity, and financial performances.