Forgiven But Not Forgotten: Covert Uncertainty in Overt Responses and the Paradox of Defection-Despite-Trust

Despite the widespread belief that trust is a critical determinant of loyalty, empirical and anecdotal evidence calls into question the real-world robustness of the trust–loyalty link. An important reason for the fuzzy nature of the trust–loyalty link may be the fuzzy nature of trust itself. That is, stated trust judgments embody both a magnitude dimension (i.e., the position along a favorable-unfavorable continuum) and an uncertainty dimension (i.e., the lack of conviction with which the judgment is held). We investigated this possibility using data pertaining to consumers’ reactions to a service failure and the provider's success in responding to their complaints. We found that the interplay between dissatisfaction with the complaint handling and past experience simultaneously influences trust magnitude and trust uncertainty. However, these two dimensions of trust are shaped by different underlying processes. Finally, uncertainty dampens the impact of stated trust on loyalty.