Introducing a composite measure of trust in financial services

Existing trust scales generally measure aspects of trustworthiness and not trust per se. Trust is a broader concept encompassing attributes of the trustee, trustor and the situation/context. The purpose of this study is to develop a composite measurement scale for trust in financial services that incorporates elements of these three facets of trust. The study draws on interdisciplinary theories and adopts a broadly quantitative approach to develop, test and validate a five-dimensional scale for measuring trust in financial services. The trust scale for financial services developed through this study has five dimensions (5Cs): character-competence, congruence, communication, commitment and context. The scale provides a holistic conceptualisation of trust and displays solid psychometric properties. A comprehensive interdisciplinary trust scale for financial services, with strong reliability and validity, holds important managerial implications, its ability to capture the attributes of the trustee, trustor and financial system attesting to its suitability as a diagnostic tool to measure trust more robustly. Our trust scale has significant practical implications, offering useful insights for policymakers, commercial organisations and other stakeholders. This is the first trust scale for financial services that captures the attributes of trustee, trustor and context, reconcilling tensions between the conceptualisation and operationalisation of trust.