Determinants of Brand Trust: A Neuroanalytical Study in the B2B Sector Using the Example of Manufacturing Industry

Due to the observed discrepancy between the verbalised opinion of buying centre members regarding brand trust and their behaviour, there is a need for research to measure implicit and explicit views in the B2B sector. In fact, practice and modern literature demonstrate that brand trust influences the purchasing behaviour of buying centre members. It is unclear whether the affective components influence brand trust more strongly than the cognitive components, which would be contrary to the verbalised opinion of the marketers. A combination of neuroanalytical survey methods and a classic survey seems suitable for this purpose. With the help of an electroencephalogram and facial recognition, the present work investigates the implicit effect of advertisements, which relate to the determinants of brand trust derived from the literature: competence, predictability, relationship and open communication. It was found that, in contrast to the prevailing opinion in the B2B literature, the affective determinants in particular achieved the highest activation at B2B professionals. In addition, a conceptual model on B2B-brand trust was tested with an industrial panel. A similar situation could be observed here. Especially the determinant “relationship” seems to be of central importance. In general, our findings outline the relevance of affective factors to B2B brand trust.