Exploring the dimensions of media brand trust: a contemporary integrative approach

ABSTRACT As brands become more media-like with branded content, media, and social media, and consumer technology continue to converge and media services expand to multiple platforms with infotainment to cultivate brand loyalty, there is a need to re-evaluate how brand trust can be assessed in the media sector where there are increasingly less divisions among a multitude of contents and platforms. This study aims to explore the need and dimensions of a new media brand trust scale that reflects the reality of today’s mediated lives and converging industries. As the first phase of the scale development process, this study integrated deductive and inductive methods, using literature review to offer a conceptual basis, and exploring the identified trust dimensions through the qualitative method of personal interviews. A total of 28 subjects from two different countries were interviewed to assess their perceptions and experiences regarding their trust of various media products/services. Eight key dimensions of media brand trust were uncovered. While competence remains a valid aspect of trust as suggested by extant literature, classic intentionality or benevolence is less significant today. The study also revealed the trust dimensions of relationship, experience, and value, which were not addressed in typical media trust related literature. This study introduces the notion of value-creation into the tradition of media trust which focused mostly on the dimension of credibility. The integrative approach is holistic and reflects more plausibly how decisions are made in modern platform/media brand choice.