Communication refers to ‘… the formal as well as informal sharing of meaningful and timely information between [partners]’ (Anderson & Narus 1990, p.44). This section aims to explore the link between communication and trust with specific emphasis on service provider-customer interaction.
Communication is hypothesised to be “the essential glue” for relationships that holds the partners together (Mohr & Nevin 1990). It is perceived to be one of the most important ingredients for the development of business relationships (Dwyer, Schurr & Oh 1987; Morgan & Hunt 1994). Indeed, Dwyer, Schurr and Oh (1987) assert that people only want to commit to relationships with people that have the same opinion or share the same goal, and it is important for them to know about their future partner before committing to the relationship. They suggest that communication plays a very important role in helping both parties to decide whether or not they want to continue to the next stage of the relationship, because after a series of communications both partners will have a better understanding of each other’s wants, issues, inputs and priorities. Dwyer, Schurr and Oh (1987) contend that communication is essential when a relationship is in an exploratory stage, where both parties have less idea of who they are dealing with. They explain that in these early stages ‘… relationship is very fragile in the sense that minimal investment and interdependence make for simple termination’ (Dwyer, Schurr & Oh 1987, p.16).
A large body of previous research has found communication to be a pre-requisite of trust in various contexts including online banking (Adamson, Chan & Handford 2003; Mukherjee & Nath 2003), the automobile industry (Morgan & Hunt 1994) and the
wood industry (Zineldin & Jonsson 2000). It is suggested that exchange partners must be communicated with within a timely, meaningful and reliable manner for them to trust another party (Morgan & Hunt 1994; Mukherjee & Nath 2003).
Though the link between communication and trust is the main emphasis in this section of the literature review, it is important to acknowledge that there are also some studies that identify a link between communication and commitment (Sharma & Patterson 1999; Zineldin & Jonsson 2000). Sharma and Patterson (1999), for example, were among the first researchers to document the link between communication and relationship commitment. The results of their study reveal that not only does communication have a direct impact on trust, a result that is consistent with previous research (Morgan & Hunt 1994), but it also has a direct impact on commitment. They argue that frequent and effective communication will not only help service providers reduce perceived risk among their customers, that in turn creates trust, but, over time it can also create a bond between service providers and their customers, which subsequently leads to relationship commitment. They point out that the linkage between communication and relationship commitment can vary depending on the ‘… recurring interaction between [service providers and customers], the risk and uncertainties involved, as well as the complex nature of the service’ (Sharma & Patterson 1999, p.158). In concurrence with Sharma and Patterson (1999), Zineldin & Jonsson (2000) also found that communication, mostly through fax and phone, between suppliers and dealers within the Swedish wood industry led to greater trust and commitment.
A number of service marketing researchers also report on the virtues of effective communication within a service context. For example, Zeithaml, Parasuraman and Berry (1990) argue that communication can be used to shape customers’ expectations. They point out that effective communication will lead to higher levels of satisfaction, while faulty communication such as overpromising in selling, advertising and other company’s communication, will lead to higher levels of customer dissatisfaction. Consequently, they assert that it is important for service providers to ensure that they communicate the right message that gives a correct picture of what would be provided during a service encounter as a means of preventing customers from being dissatisfied. Moreover, Sharma and Patterson (1999) assert that communication can be used to help their customers to overcome the feeling of uncertainty and risk during the consumption of a service. They observe that most services have an intangible dimension, which makes it difficult for service providers to maintain control over many of the aspects of service provision. As a result, there is a lot of uncertainty and risk involved during service consumption. Consequently, they suggest that service providers need to communicate with their customers in order to help them to overcome their feeling of uncertainty and the fear of risk (Sharma & Patterson 1999). Furthermore, Lovelock, Patterson & Walker (2004), suggest that “good communication” that is, empathy, responsiveness and product knowledge, helps service providers to create a better understanding between themselves and their customers. Moreover, communication also conveys the service providers’ willingness to provide the best service to their customers, which in turn leads customers to believe that their service providers will behave in a manner that reflects the best interests of their customers. As a result, customers tend to overlook any occasional mistakes that may occur during a service encounter.
In summary, communication has been hypothesised as an important ingredient for successful relationships. Whilst some researchers have found that communication also leads to trust alone, there are others who found that communication leads to commitment as well as trust. After conducting a comprehensive review of literature, it can be noted that, despite a large body of work on communication in service contexts, minimal hospitality related research has been conducted around the concept of communication.