Chapter 5

Antecedents and Consequences of Brand Trust in the Baby Care Toiletries Product Brands: The Moderating role of Mothers Personal Variables.A THESIS

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Neha Srivastava

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AbstractBrand Trust which is an extension of general trust theory, has gained attention among the marketing academia. Several conceptualizations of brand trust exist in product and service domain and these conceptualizations have offered valuable insight into the processes that consumers evaluate and choose brands within a given category. However, Baby care products have been neglected in literature so far and require special attention due to its differing nature from other product categories. In baby care product category, the buyer and the user are different and involve high level of perceived risk. It is a product category where parents are initially unable to judge brand performance as consumption is undertaken by babies who cannot express about the usage experience. Hence, this category of product brands require great deal of trust building since mothers would hardly purchase any brands for their infants without knowing and trusting it.

Despite several works on brand trust, little conceptual or empirical research has addressed which factors build brand trust. Most studies have focused on the explorations of brand trust in general and not on its sources and development. Mother characteristics in the context of baby care brand trust development process have also received little research focus. In response to such a call, the primary motivation behind this study is to fill the current gap in literature by investigating baby care toiletries product brand trust development process. Specifically, our study is based in the Indian baby care toiletries brand market and addresses following objectives: (i) to identify and test the impact of factors that generates brand trust in baby care toiletries product brands and assess their relative importance (ii) to identify and test the relative importance of consequences of brand Trust in baby care toiletries product brands (iii) to examine the role of brand trust in the relation between its antecedent factors and consequences (iv) to explore the effects of mother characteristics (socio-demography, personality traits) on brand trust development process.

To accomplish objectives of this study, research has been structured in two phases, viz. exploratory and descriptive. The exploratory study covers focused literature review and qualitative in-depth interviews with forty mothers of babies under age of 3 years. Integrating past literature with focused interviews, the study has developed a model examining antecedents and consequences of brand trust in baby care toiletries product category. The proposed framework conceptualized two dimensions of brand trust namely cognitive and affective brand trust. Ten antecedents of cognitive brand trust and seven of affective brand trust have been identified and incorporated in the conceptual framework. The study further proposes three consequences of brand trust and mother characteristics as moderators in the study. In the descriptive study, a survey with structured instrument, incorporating items on 27 major variables (13 independent variables, 9 moderating variables, 2 mediating variables, 3 dependent variables) has been developed. Instrument was pre tested with sixty mothers who have purchased baby care toiletries brands in the last six months. Then the final administering of questionnaire was done with 680 mothers resulting in usable data points of 507. The survey data analysis was conducted in three stages. The first step involved establishing the reliability and validity of measurement items measuring different variables through confirmatory factor analysis. For testing the relative importance of antecedent factors on brand trust and effect of brand trust on consequences, path analysis was performed using structure equation modeling. In the third phase, the moderating effects of mother characteristics between antecedents and brand trust were tested through hierarchical moderator regression analysis.

Path analysis findings supported hypothesized paths with exception of rejection of ten paths. Results of identified antecedents affecting brand trust dimensions showed the following findings- brand credibility, brand predictability, brand consumption experience, brand innovation positively affected cognitive brand trust and brand reputation, brand intimacy, family influence positively affected affective brand trust. Results also showed relationship between brand trust and its consequences. Hierarchical moderator regression analysis for moderating variables (education, income, occupation, family type and personality) supported five hypotheses.The study is expected to contribute significantly to the domain of baby care market and its brand trust development process. The findings will suggest marketing strategy implications for companies that what essential elements they must keep in mind while promoting their brand and winning trust of mothers for baby care toiletry brands. This study attempts to provide original insights to marketing theorists and practitioners about the significance of antecedent factors for developing strong brand trust for baby care toiletry brands. The study also throws light on the emerging topic of brand trust development process. This will help marketer in judicious allocation of resources for marketing activities to build strong brand trust in baby care market. Theoretically, the present study is an offshoot of the ongoing research on brand trust development process and enhances our current understanding of the area in the baby care toiletries brand sector.Keywords: Brand Trust, Mothers characteristics, Commitment, WOM.Table of ContentsChapter 17Introduction71.1 The Research Context71.2 Research Questions, Objective, and Scope of the study91.3 Theoretical Framework101.4. Expected contributions of the study131.5 Organization of Thesis Chapters14Chapter 21515The Review of Literature and Model Development

2.1 Brand Trust in the Context of Baby Care Products15172.2 Theoretical Frameworks for Research on Brand Trust in baby care products

262.3 The Role of mothers demographic variables in brand trust

272.4 The Role of mothers personality variables in brand trust

Chapter 328Model Development and Hypotheses Generation283.1 Brand trust and its antecedents in the context of baby care toiletries28433.2 Consequences of Cognitive & Affective brand trust in the baby care toiletries

453.3 The Mediating Role of Brand Trust

3.4 Mothers Demographic and its moderating effects on the relationships between brand trust and its antecedents .513.5 Mothers Big Five Personality and its moderating effects on the relationships between brand trust and its antecedents .58Chapter 4 64The Research Methodology644.1 The Measurement of variables644.2 Context of study and Sampling674.3 Data Analysis Techniques and Procedures70Chapter 581Results and Findings815.1 Pre-testing of the questionnaire815.1.1 Results of Pretest825.2 The Final Survey825.2.1 The sample and the data collection procedure835.2.2 The response rate and sample characteristics835.3 Data Analysis841205.4 Summary and Discussion of Results

121Chapter 6

121Theoretical Contributions, Managerial Implications and Future Directions

1226.1 Summary

1246.2 Major Findings and Theoretical Implications

1326.3 Limitations and Directions for Future Research

134Bibliography

146Appendix A

157Appendix B

Appendix C163

Chapter 1Introduction1.1 The Research ContextIndia is a growing economy and with rising income level and changing consumer behavior, Indian families have more money to spend. When a family has a baby under age three, then Baby care product is one of the product categories where the major component of familys income is spent. According to Research & Markets Report (2013), the baby care market is in the nascent stage of development in India, but soon it is expected to emerge as one of the worlds fastest growing baby care markets. In India, large population is in 0-4 years and parents increasing preference to spend more on baby products will drive the market to new horizons in near future. Total baby care market was valued at INR 3000 crore in 2012 and is estimated to reach INR 4200 crore by 2014 and is growing at a compound annual rate of over 20 percent (ASSOCHAM, 2012). Baby care market consists of baby skin care, toiletries and hair care. The ASSOCHAM report further estimated that the hair care market for babies is valued at Rs 40 crore for 2012, and is growing at a CAGR of 5 per cent. The skin care market is valued at Rs 400 crore for 2012 and is growing at a CAGR of 15 per cent. The baby toiletries market is estimated at Rs 380 crore for 2012 and is growing at 20 per cent annualy. In India, Baby care market in India is overwhelmingly dominated by the unorganized sector (RNCOS Report, 2012). But in the organized baby personal care market, J&J dominates with around 85 percent market share (Business Standard, 2013). J&J has been the undisputable market leader in the baby care market with its soap, lotion and shampoos having virtually no competitors. The reason: No Indian brand is able to get the trust of the Mothers than it has (Marketing practice.com). Mother-child relationship is the best thing that has happened to this brand. In the baby food segment, Nestle S.A. is the leading company. Kimberly Clark Lever Pvt Ltd (KCL) with its brand Huggies is the market leader in the diapers.According to Broadbridge and Morgan (2000), baby care products are the high perceived risk products, since the consumer in this case is the baby/ infant who cannot tell about the liking & disliking for the product used. Hence, existence of brand trust (Ballester and Aleman, 2001) is very much necessary for purchasing any product in this category. Baby care product category is the one where consumers require greater assurance about quality than price (Broadbridge and Morgan, 2000). Lack of trust and high risk are found to be the main drivers preventing mothers to purchase new and unknown brands in this product category. So it is imperative that trust in baby care brand is one of the most crucial factors for success in this product category. Academic research is needed to discover important factors that develop trust in baby care brands. Past researches such as Yee and Chin (2007), Broadbridge and Morgan (2000), Ballester and Aleman (2001), Chen, Au and Li (2004), Beattie (2004) have found that various factors such as brand commitment, overall satisfaction, price tolerance, customer involvement, quality, brand familiarity, brand awareness, external and internal information sources builds brand trust and brand choice in case of baby products.

None of the past studies except few (Broadbridge and Morgan, 2000; Yee and Chin, 2007; Ballester and Aleman, 2001) have tried to classify the factors that develop brand trust in case of baby care products. After doing extensive literature review, this study classified factors leading to brand trust as Brand Characteristics factors, Customer Brand characteristic factors, External influencer factors and interpersonal influencers factors. Thus, this makes a comprehensive list of antecedents of brand trust for baby care toiletries products and which has till date not studied. Similarly, three consequences of brand trust has been proposed in the study namely, commitment, perceived risk and WOM behavior, which are also not studied earlier with respect to their interrelationship.Past studies show that parents demographics such as education, income (Yee and Chin, 2007; Chen et al; 2004; and Silver, 1995) have significant effect on baby care products purchase. Thus it is highly possible that mothers personal variables such as demographics and personality may influence the relationships involving brand trust and its antecedents for baby care toiletries products. Past studies have been conducted on infant food (Yee and Chin, 2007), diapers (Ballester and Aleman, 2001) and soap (Broadbridge and Morgan, 2000) but not in the broad toiletries product category as a whole. Study by Ballester and Aleman (2001) was only empirical in nature whereas other studies in baby toiletries product category (Broadbridge and Morgan, 2000; Beattie, 2004) are qualitative in nature and lacks empirical support. Most of the studies are for other baby product categories such as food, apparel, toys but they also lacks empirical support and are qualitative in nature. Hence, this study not only proposes antecedents and consequences of brand trust for baby care toiletry product category but also gives empirical validation for it.1.2 Research Questions, Objective, and Scope of the study

The main objective of the paper is to extend the study of Brand trust in the baby care toiletries product category and to find out the factors which develop brand trust in mothers for baby care toiletries products. Study incorporates antecedents and consequences of brand trust of baby care toiletries products and shows what antecedents are preferred by which mother segment on the basis of their personal characteristics. The following are the research objectives:

1. To identify the major antecedents of brand trust in baby care toiletries product brands.

2. To identify the major consequences of brand Trust in baby care toiletries product brands.

3. To examine the role of Brand Trust in the relation between its antecedent factors and consequences

4. To find out the effect of mothers demographic variables in the relationship between the antecedents of brand trust and the brand trust

5. To find out the effect of mothers personality variables in the relationship between the antecedents of brand trust and the brand trust1.3 Theoretical FrameworkIn order to examine the above-mentioned objectives, a framework was conceptualized identifying and depicting (a) the causal links of key antecedent variables and the outcome variables of brand trust in the context of baby care toiletries products and (b) the influence of demographic and personality values of mothers on links between antecedents of brand trust and brand trust.

Over the years, the construct of trust has attracted the attention of scholars from several disciplinary perspectives- economics (Dasgupta 1988), psychology (Deutsch 1960; Larzelere and Huston 1980), sociology (Lewis and Weigert 1985), marketing (Morgan and Hunt 1994; Michell et al., 1998; Garbarino and Johnson., 1999) and many other areas. In marketing literatures, trust has been widely theorised in relationship marketing in the context of distribution channels (Andaleeb, 1992; Kumar et al., 1995) and industrial buyer seller relationship (Dwyer et al., 1987; Ganeshan, 1994; Schurr and Ozanne, 1985). Numerous definitions of trust have been offered in the literatures. Moorman, Zaltman, and Deshpande (1992) have defined trust as the willingness to rely on an exchange partner in whom one has confidence. Morgan and Hunt (1994) have defined trust as the perception of "confidence in the exchange partners reliability and integrity." Trust is said to exist in an uncertain and risky environment (Bhattacharya et al., 1998). With respect to risk, Boon and Holmes (1991) defined trust as a state involving confident positive expectation about another motives with respect to oneself in risky conditions. Trust is considered as a confidence in the face of risk (Lewis and Weigert, 1985; Afzal et al., 2010). Concept of trust is widely used in the industrial marketing and new to consumer marketing, especially with respect to trust in the brand. Trust has been defined in varied ways by different researchers. Ha (2004) has defined trust as having trustworthiness and expertise component in the online context. Atilgan et al (2009) has described trust in the services context as having reliability, intention and credibility dimensions. Chaudhuri & Holbrook (2002) and Power et al (2008) in their study have again taken the dimensions of trustworthiness and expertise to define trust. Trustworhiness is one of the components which is widely used by researchers to define trust. It refers to the confidence in the service provider, providing quality performance in a sincere and honest manner (Sung & Kim, 2010). Another construct which is widely used to define trust in branding is reliability which is the perceived dependability of the brands functional performance (Wang, 2002). Trust has also been defined as benevolence component i.e., partners good intentions, and his or her perceived willingness to pay attention to the others needs and altruism component i.e., the degree to which the consumer perceives the organization as being unselfishly caring about its customers as well as society as a whole (Wang, 2002). Trust has also been defined differently by different authors in different contexts. However, various components of brand trust by researchers have been discussed in detail in the following paragraph.

Trust in the context of Brand

Brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, design or combination of all given by the seller to identify their goods or services, and to differentiate them from competitors (Lau & Lee, 1999). When a consumer trusts a brand, he/ she trust a symbol than a person. Brand trust is the extension of trust theory in the area of consumer marketing. Construct of brand trust has attracted little theoretical and empirical research studies as brand is inanimate object (Ballester, 2004) and applying interpersonal theory of trust is not an easy task in this context. However, recently many researchers (Fournier, 1998; Lau and Lee, 1999; Ballester and Aleman, 2001) have tried to study and develop brand trust relationship theory and have opened avenue for its further development and research. Brand trust is the confidence held by the customers that the brand will meet their consumption expectations. It is a feeling held by the consumers that the brand will take care of their interest and not take advantage of their vulnerability. Chaudhuri and Holbrook (2001) have considered brand trust as unidimensional variable stating it as consumers willingness to believe on the ability of the brand to perform its expected function. However, further studies have considered brand trust as multidimensional. Dimensions such as brand reliability and brand intentions were said to build brand trust (Delgado-Ballester et al, 2004). Brand trust is defined as a secured feeling held by the customers based on his/ her interaction with the brand that it is reliable and is responsible for the interest and welfare of the customers (Delgado-Ballester et al, 2005). Dawar and Pillutla (2000) have described brand trust in terms of reliability and dependability. In case of high perceived risk, customers develop trust in a brand which provides a guarantee of quality and security (Deutsch, 1973; Ballester and Aleman, 2005; Aaker, 1991; Elliott and Yannopoulou, 2007). It is found that at times the brand customer relationship becomes so strong that when customers select a brand, they do not merely choose it for consumption but to choose lives lead with it (Fournier, 1998). Customers trust in a brand develops on the ability and willingness of the brand to keep its promises and to satisfy consumers demand even in the cases of crisis (Ballester, 2004; Ballester and Aleman, 2005). Elliott and Yannopoulou (2007) have researched that trust becomes more relevant in the case of symbolic brands with high level of involvement and high perceptions of purchase risk. Customers trusting a brand would commit to it for the long time (Gurviez and Korchia, 2003) and generally purchase the same brands for years. Brand trust leads to brand loyalty and customers get reluctant to switch to other brands (Ballester and Aleman, 2005). It can be concluded that brand trust is essential not only in retaining current customers but also in gaining new customers since it inculcates the feeling of confidence and security among the people (Aaker, 1991; Elliott and Yannopoulou, 2007). Brand trust is essential for the final purchases (Sichtmann, 2007; Samson, 2006) and also in developing loyalty or commitment for the brand (Ballester & Aleman, 2005; Wang, 2002; Ha, 2004; Ballester & Aleman, 2001). It is a pillar for developing healthy brand- customer relationship (Blackston, 2000; Guese & Haelge, 2010). Previous literatures have talked about various consequences of brand trust such as brand loyalty (Lau & Lee, 1999 ; Afzal et al., 2010; Sondoh, 2009; Devrani, 2009), brand satisfaction (Ballester and Aleman, 2001; Dywer et al., 1987; Krishnan, 1996), brand choice (Erdem, 2004; Rani, 2009; Atilgan et al., 2009; Reast, 2005; Elliott et al., 2007) , purchase intension (Sichtmann, 2007; Samson, 2006; Wirtz & Chew, 2002; Thomas et al., 2009), product extension acceptability, brand commitment (Ballester & Aleman, 2001; Wang, 2002; Chaudhuri & Holbrook, 2002), WOM behaviour (Mason, 2009; Sichtmann, 2007). Two major consequences of brand trust i.e., brand commitment and brand loyalty are worked upon by researchers widely. Brand Commitment is the implicit or explicit intention to maintain a durable relationship with the brand (Gurviez and Korchia, 2002). It includes both behavioral and attitudinal component i.e., repurchase & long term relationship (Chaudhuri & Holbrook, 2001). Brand loyalty implies a behavioral dimension, whereas brand commitment characterizes an attitudinal facet (Warrington and Shim, 2000). Loyal consumers who repeatedly purchase the brand without strong brand preference are likely to switch to another brand, whereas brand-committed consumers are unlikely to switch (Sung & Choi, 2010). Other consequences such as WOM behavior, purchase intention, brand extension acceptability are limited researched and are explored in the later part of the thesis.With respect to demographic and personality variable moderators, few or little research is done. Moderating role in particular has not been examined. Researchers such as Yee and Chin (2007), Prendegast & Wong (2003), Broadbridge & Morgan (2001) has talked about in limited sense of the affect of mothers demographic variable on the purchase choice criteria of baby care products. Thus, this study through literature review and detailed qualitative & empirical study, address the research gaps present in the literature. Based on above studies, theoretical framework for brand trust development in the context of baby care toiletries product has been discussed in detail in the next chapter.1.4. Expected contributions of the studyThis study focuses on various factors that generate cognitive and affective brand trust for their brands among the mothers. The results suggest marketing strategy implications for companies regarding essential elements they must keep in mind while promoting their brand and winning trust of mothers. Since India, has the highest number of infants and baby care market is expanding faster, thus the findings of the study can be beneficial for the companies in fighting competition. The present study might also attract more researches in the less researched context of baby care products.

The study will help the scholars and practitioners in many broad ways. First of all, it would tell the scholars the factors that generate brand trust in the context of baby care toiletries products. Secondly, it would show whether these factors that generate brand trust vary across personality and demographic values or not. Summarizing past works and integrating several ideas derived from these works into our model would make study in this context interesting and useful. Empirical validation of moderating effects of demographic and personality variables on established linkages between brand trust and its antecedents have far reaching implication for brands operating in baby care toiletries market. This will help companies to devise differential marketing strategies to suit the requirement of different demographic profile of mothers.

1.5 Organization of Thesis Chapters

The rest of the chapters are organized as follows. The relevant literature related to brand trust, baby care products, mothers personality and demographic variables is reviewed and presented in Chapter 2. Based on this literature review, a research model is developed in chapter 3, which addresses some of the gaps in the knowledge and some of the issues arising from previous research. Thereafter, a conceptual framework is developed which reflects the hypotheses that are to be tested. In chapter 4, the research methodology has been discussed in details. The results and analysis have been presented in chapter 5. In chapter 6, the contributions of the study, the managerial implications of the results have been discussed. Further, drawbacks and directions of future research have been provided.

CHAPTER 2Review of Related Literatures

2.1 Brand Trust in the context of baby care products.

Baby care toiletries product category is a category where the buyer and the user are different (Prendergast and Wong, 2003) and involves high level of perceived risk. Baby care product category involves great inherent risk (Ballester and Aleman, 2001) and hence mothers would want to purchase the reliable and the most trust worthy brand. Brand trust in the case of baby care products requires assurance of integrity and benevolence that the brand would act honestly, sincerely and take customers side even in the uncertain conditions. Consumers require greater assurance about quality than the price (Broadbridge and Morgan, 2000). Researches have indicated that mothers do not mind paying high to get quality products (Yee and Chin, 2007) and even willing to sacrifice their own purchases (Broadbridge and Morgan, 2000) to buy the trusted brand for their baby. Medical physicians advice is considered as an important factor in determining baby food (Yee and Chin, 2007) and other care products. Previous research (Broadbridge and Morgan, 2000) reports that the product reliability and performance are essential elements while selecting a baby care brand. Brand distinct positioning (Chernatony, 1989) and reputation (Afzal et al., 2010) serves as a strong binding force for the consumers and preventing them to switch to other brands. Brand switching is usually not seen if mothers are satisfied with the baby product (Yee and Chin, 2007). Various factors are thus said to build brand trust in case of baby care products. Same are discussed in the later sections.Brand trust in the present study is divided in to two dimensions of cognitive and affective brand trust. Our study is based on well-established theoretical precedent for examining trust from the social psychology literature that conceptualizes trust as having cognitive & affective dimensions (Lewis and Weigert, 1985). Based on above theory, Cognitive brand trust is defined as the knowledge driven trust based for good reasons of which brand to be chosen, under which respect i.e., features the brand is chosen & under what circumstances i.e., it fulfills which need situation of the consumer. It is the cognitive leap beyond the expectations that reason and experience alone would warrant (Inspired by Lewis & Weigert, 1985). It refers to the careful methodical thought process used to determine whether brand is trustworthy or not (Morrow et al., 2004). It emerges from the accumulated knowledge that allows one to build confidence for other that it would meet to his/ her obligations (Johnson and Grayson, 2005). It is the confidence developed in the brand backed by empirical evidence and not instantaneously (Jones & George, 1998; Morrow et al., 2004). Hence, it emerges when the brand satisfies the customers needs through its attributes, features in consistent way.

Affective brand trust is defined as the belief generated on the basis of level of care and concern that the brand exhibit. It reflects emotional security on the part of customers (Ballester, 2004). It is that aspect of belief that goes beyond available evidence to make customers assured that brand will act in a responsible way and take care of their needs. It is a trust based on ones instinct, intuitions, feelings concerning whether other party is trustworthy (Morrow et al., 2004). This trust places reliance on the brand based on emotions, feelings. Therefore, brand trust in this study reflects two separate components, first knowledge based and another emotion based. Agreeing with McAllister (1995), study proposes that cognitive brand trust generates earlier and leads to affective brand trust in baby toiletries brands as baseline expectation of brand performance is necessary for mothers to invest further in relationship with the brand.

2.2 Theoretical Frameworks for Research on Brand Trust in baby care products.Customer Brand Relationship TheoryThe theory of customer brand relationship is one of the theories referred in developing the conceptual framework for the study and for identification of factors that have a direct influence on affecting brand trust for baby care products. According to Hess and Story (2005) marketers no longer emphasized on satisfying customers but they aims to maintain long term relationship with them. Hiscock (2001) stated that the aim of the marketing is to generate intense bond between the consumer and the brand, and the main ingredient of this bond is trust. Fournier (1998) is the major contributor to this theory. She has described brand customer relationship as a multifaceted construct. Her contribution has been to identify brand relationship in the form of commitment, intimacy, love/ passion, brand quality. Trust has been mentioned by various researchers (Ballester, 2004; Blackston, 2000; Smith 2001) as an enhancer in this customer brand relationship. As the brand customer relationship develops, trust arises and through safety, credibility, and security reduces the sacrifices made by the buyer in the relationship thus increasing its overall value (Selnes, 1998). This theory states that as the satisfaction from the relationship increases, the likelihood to exit from the relationship reduces (Hirchman, 1970; Richins, 1983). Dyadic relationship is said to exist between brand and customers and trust is an essential link to reduce the uncertainty and risk of relationship (Elliott and Yannopoulou, 2007). In the context of baby products, this theory has been used by scholars such as Hogan (2007), Ballester and Alleman (2001), Beattie (2004). In the context of baby products, companies try to develop relationship and emotional bonding between the mother and the baby through the brand. Johnson & Johnson, a popular baby care product brand advertise itself that by using it, bonding between mother and infant grows. Satisfaction resulting from brand experience, brand intimacy is the result of brand customer relationship and it can generate or break the trust in the brand. In the context of this study, brand experience through past and present usage of the brand delivers both cognitive and affective satisfaction to baby and mothers. If mothers are satisfied with the consumption of the brand and baby remains happy, then the trust for the brand develops and also creates brand commitment for it.

Social Exchange Theory

This theory suggests that the behavior of parties in the exchange relationship cannot be explained only through economic exchanges but also through social interaction and belief that each party would fulfill their obligations (Blau, 1964; Thibaut and Kelley, 1959). Hence, the main source of trust is shared value and period of relationship between the parties. Doney, Cannon, and Mullen (1998) has suggested that people build trust in others through repeated interactions and common values and goals. Blau (1964) has stated that social exchange theory requires the individual to trust the other party to discharge his obligations because there was no guaranteed return for the service. According to Auh (2005) social exchange theory is the reciprocal exchange of positive and valuable information that enhances the trust, commitment, and satisfaction with the relationship. In the context of baby care products, there exist a high level of perceived risk on the mothers to choose which brand and this perception of risk can be overcome through trust guaranteed and developed by the brand. Social exchange theory suggests that trust prevails even when opportunism might be rationally expected. In the context of baby care products, factor of brand reputation is influenced by the variables that lead to brand trust. Since, social behavior is not only an exchange of material goods but also of non-material ones, such as the symbols of approval or prestige and the mothers develop trust in a brand due to the approval factor attached to it, hence the brand also comes under the obligation to perform according to expectations. In the circumstances, when marketers are not able to fulfill the expectation of the consumers, distrust among the consumers happen and brand losses in the market. Theory of Reasoned ActionThe theory of reasoned action (TRA) is one of the theories referred in developing the conceptual framework for the study and for identification of factors that have a direct influence on building brand trust. Theory is based on the assumption that human beings are rational and make systematic use of information available to them (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975). According to the theory, behavior is determined by the behavior intention, which in turn is influenced by the attitudinal and the social factors. The second factor, subjective norms, consists of persons perceptions of what important specific referent individuals or groups think he or she should do (Vallerand et al., 1992). Importance of both the factors varies according to the behavior, situation and individual difference of each individual (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980). Ajzen and Fishbein (1980) also proposed that certain external variables may also affect behavior indirectly by their effects on behavioral and normative beliefs (Summers et al, 2006). External variables such as traditional attitude toward objects, personality traits, and demographics could influence the factors determining beliefs which, in turn, could provide a better understanding of the individual behavior. Researchers also have suggested additional external variables such as past behavior, past experiences, or involvement could be included in the model to more accurately predict the behavior (Bagozzi et al., 2000; Bunce and Birdi, 1998). Keeping this view, baby care products choice and brand trust are influenced by social and referent group influence (Beattie, 2004). Brand trust of these products also varies according to the demographic and psychographic profiles of the customers (Yee and Chin, 2007). They have researched that parent with higher level of education has high level of awareness towards nutrition components of infant food products. Also they have found that educated parents when come across new baby care product brand are found to be getting information about it from the physicians. Occupation was another variable that was found by them to be affecting brand purchase of infant milk formulae. Working mothers were dependent on milk formulae since they had no time and found it convenient to feed their babies. Income of the parents was also found to affect the brand purchases. High income parents go for costly baby milk formulae then the low income parents. Thus, theory of reasoned action is also said to influence demographic variables of this study.

Brand Trust TheoryBrand trust theory is the offshoot of trust theory. It is of recent origin and is inspired by social psychology, sociology and management (Ballester, 2004). There have been little consensus among the scholars on what factors constitute brand trust. Different researchers have treated brand trust in different ways. Some researchers have taken factors as the core component of trust itself and some have taken the same factors as antecedents to trust. According to the theory, trust in a brand is a feeling of security held by the consumer in his/her interaction with the brand, that it is based on the perceptions that the brand is reliable and responsible for the interests and welfare of the consumer (Ballester, 2004). Theory assumes that brand is benevolent and would look for the welfare of customers, even at the cost of its advantage. Li et al (2007) has found that brand trust exists when consumers place their confidence in a brand with respect to specific aspects of a brand such as performance competence and benevolent intentions. Hess and Story (2005) suggested that core component of trust such as altruism, integrity, or a combination of the two differentiates it from future expected performance. Brands express these motivations by doing such things as resolving problems quickly, providing consistently good food, and greeting customers with friendly, efficient employees. Gurviez & Korchia (2003) has called brand trust as a psychological variable mirroring a set of accumulated presumptions involving the credibility, integrity and benevolence that a consumer attributes to the brand. Brand credibility, benevolence, reliability, competence, experience, satisfaction, reputation and intention are the variables stated by the different researchers as constituting antecedents of brand trust. In the present study, Gurviez and Korchia (2003) perspective of integrity and Li et al (2007) perspective of benevolence is taken to define brand trust. Conducive to this theory factors such as competency, credibility, reputation, satisfaction are taken as antecedents of brand trust. Trust Commitment TheoryThe theory was proposed by Morgan and Hunt (1994). According to the theory, trust and commitment are key variables as they leads to preserving relationship in exchange partners. Presence of both trust and commitment leads to resistance of attractive short term gains in the favor of long term benefits of staying in the partnership. They produce outcomes that promote efficiency, productivity, and effectiveness. They lead to cooperative behaviors that are conducive to any successful relationship. Commitment to the relationship is defined as an enduring desire to maintain a valued relationship (Morgan and Hunt, 1994; Moorman, Zaltman, and Deshpande, 1992). Commitment is the mutual social trust on the part of parties to maintain exchange relationship in the future (McDonald, 1981). Trust and commitment is the outcome of strong and developing relationships. Gundlach, Achrol, and Mentzer (1995) has suggested that commitment has three components: an instrumental component of some form of investment, an attitudinal component that may be described as affective commitment or psychological attachment, and a temporal dimension declaring that the relationship exists over time (Garbarino and Johnson, 1999). In the case of customer brand context, commitment is the important contributor that leads to long term loyalty (Hess, 1995; Ballester and Alleman, 2001). In the context of baby diapers, commitment is found to be the consequences of brand trust (Ballester and Alleman, 2001). Thus, from this theory, component of commitment is proposed to be a consequence of brand trust in baby care toiletries product brands.

Taxonomy of factors building brand trust in the context of baby care toiletries products

Hess and Story (2005) had classified the factors that generate brand trust into four major groups i.e. brand characteristics, customer characteristics, product / service performance and firm responsiveness. In the domain of corporate brand trust, Michell et al (1998) has formulated separate group of antecedent factors which are probity factor, equity factor, reliability factor and satisfaction factor. In the market research relationship, Moorman et al (1993) has identified factors such as individual user characteristics, researcher interpersonal characteristics, user organizational characteristics, interdepartmental and project characteristics factors to be building trust in researcher. Lau and Lee (1999) have conceptualized the antecedents of brand trust as a) brand characteristics factors such as brand reputation, predictability and competence b) company characteristics factors as trust in company, company reputation, company integrity and c) consumer-brand characteristics factors such as self concept, peer support, brand experience and brand satisfaction. In this study the various scholarly views on the subject of trust have been reviewed and integrated. Subsequently, a more comprehensive model on brand trust and its antecedents has been presented.

The Antecedents of Brand Trust in the context of Baby care products

After integrating the concepts of antecedents of brand trust from the work of Hess and Story (2005) and Lau and Lee (1999), two factors are named as brand characteristics factor and customer brand characteristic factors. Two new factors inspired by the study of Bhattacherjee (2000) leading to brand trust in the context of baby care products are proposed in the study i.e., external influence factors and interpersonal factors. These four factors are proposed in the study to affect both cognitive and affective brand trust in the baby care toiletries product brands context. Brand Characteristics Factors

Theory of brand trust has posited that brand reputation, brand credibility, performance competency, brand predictability (Hess and Story, 2005; Lau and Lee, 1999) is the major elements of brand characteristics factor. Brand characteristics are the brand properties which are important factor in shaping consumer trust for the brand (Afzal et al., 2010). Through these characteristics, consumers judge a brand. Brand benevolence (Li et al., 2007), brand integrity (Gurviez and Korchia, 2003; Michell et al., 1998) are also taken in the researches to influence brand trust. Brand characteristic factors comprise the broad framework of product quality. This factor is of utmost importance in the context of baby care products since mothers evaluate different brands based on these characteristics. Brand quality is given more importance than the price by the mothers (Broadbridge and Morgan, 2000). Since generally mothers have no experience related to choice of baby care brands hence they pay importance to the distinct features present in a brand. Researches (Hess and Story, 2005; Lau and Lee, 1999; Gurviez and Korchia, 2003; Michell et al., 1998; Afzal et al., 2010; Sichtmann, 2007) have empirically shown that brand reputation, brand credibility, performance competency, brand predictability, brand benevolence, brand integrity generates brand trust. Since few or little work is done in the baby care products context, hence qualitative interviews of mothers were conducted to find out and frame the important variables that results in to brand trust in this context. From the basis of qualitative study conducted on mothers, brand predictability, brand reputation, brand innovativeness, brand origin and brand credibility identified as likely antecedents of brand trust.

Customer Brand Characteristic Factor

This factor is based on the previous interaction directly or indirectly between the customers and brand. Lau and Lee (1999) in their study has included consumers self concept and brand image, liking for the brand, experience with the brand, satisfaction with the brand, peer support and influence under this factor. Overall satisfaction is found to generate trust (Ganeshan, 1994) as the customer becomes assured that the brand would take care of his welfare and interest (Ballester and Aleman, 2001). Prior experience with the brand in the form of number of usage or continuous usage by other family members also generates brand trust. In the context of baby care products, variables of consumption experience and consumption satisfaction are proposed since interview with mothers indicated that they like to purchase those baby care brands which they or their family members have used earlier. Satisfaction emerged out to be the most important variable for generating trust because mothers remain committed to brands with which they are satisfied and even eager to pay high prices for them.

External Influence Factor

Understanding consumer information search behavior is very critical for any firm to make strategic decisions for its brand. External influence factors here constitute the impact of information outside the family sources of the customers such as from magazines, television, radio, internet and other mass media sources. For the baby care toiletries brand, external influence factors also constitutes professional expert opinion such as of physicians and non professional expert opinion such as midwives, opinion of experienced old ladies of the society. It has been found that consumers do extensive external information search to reduce uncertainty involved with the product purchase (Urbany et al., 1989). External influencer sources have no interpersonal contact with the consumers. It refers to influence by mass media reports, expert opinion and other non personal sources considered by individuals in performing a behavior (Bhattacherjee, 2000). For baby care toiletries brand, external influencers are found to play important role as before developing trust for any brands mothers do extensive information search by consulting physicians, taking the opinion of experienced ladies or other mothers. They also look for the information from the various media sources present. Interpersonal Factors

Interpersonal influence is the influence by friends, family members, colleagues (Bhattacherjee, 2000). Family plays important role in affecting individuals norms, attitude and values (Childers and Rao, 1992; Heckler et al., 1989) and also influencing brand preference and loyalties (Childers and Rao, 1992). It is said that family influence is greater on individuals as they identify themselves with their family members and also interaction among them is large. This factor also includes peer or friends influence as they play direct role in consumption behavior of an individual. In the context of baby care toiletries products, mothers are found to be influenced largely by the friend and peer group. They usually consult about the experience of their friends and peer group before developing trust for any baby care toiletries brands (Broadbridge and Morgan, 2000). This factor is influenced by the referent group theory and theory of family decision.

2.3 The Role of mothers demographic variables in brand trust

Researchers have indicated that purchasing behavior for baby care products are influenced by the demographic profile of the mothers. Research work such as Yee and Chin (2007), Chen, Au and Li (2004), Prendergast and Wong, (2003), Beattie (2004) has studied the impact of mothers demographics in the purchase decision of children products. Taking cue from the above works, in this study education, family structure and income are considered to be influencing in the relationship between brand trust and its antecedents. 2.4 The Role of mothers personality variables in brand trust

Psychographic is a broad domain that includes personality and lifestyle (Kotler, 1997). There have been a plethora of studies including the seminal works of Tauber (1972) that indicates the effect of psychographics on the shopping behavior and customer market can be segmented on its basis. Personality has been used in many consumer decision making studies (Mulyanegara et al., 2007; Kochanska, 1997b; Belsky & Barends, 2002; Verhoeven et al., 2007). Personality as a concept represents a set of ideas quite distinct from lifestyle (Kucukemiroglu, 1997). It is defined as the intrinsic organisation of an individuals mental world that is stable over time and consistent over situations (Piedmont, 1998). Whereas, costumers define their lifestyles by the consumption choices they make in different product categories (Lin, 2002). Personality as defined above remains stable with consumption styles whereas lifestyle keeps on changing with consumption of different types of products and services. This study takes into account the moderating influence of mothers personality on the brand trust and its antecedents due to its stable nature. Researchers have indicated that the big five personality characteristics of mothers affect their relationship with the baby (Clark et al, 2000; Kochanska et al, 2004). These studies classified the mothers on the basis of Big Five personality traits of Neuroticism, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Openness, and Extraversion. Mulyanegara et al (2009) in his paper has indicated the relationship between these big five personality traits and brand preference of the customers. These big five personality traits indicates that how mothers falling into different traits would develop brand trust for baby care products based on importance paid to different antecedent variables. Though there have been a vast number of works in the area, till date there have been no studies, to the best of knowledge, which has comprehensively studied how the big five personality variables would moderate the relationship between the antecedents of brand trust and brand trust. Hence based on above work and assumption, this study takes into consideration the moderating influence of mothers personality variables on the brand trust and its antecedents. CHAPTER 3 Model Development and Hypotheses Generation3.1 Brand Trust and its antecedents in the context of baby care toiletries productsBrand Credibility

Baby care toiletries product market is characterized by low brand awareness and uncertainty among the mothers. In such scenario, brands which can understand babys requirements and also substantiate and transfer value proposition can only win the trust of the mothers. Brand must deliver what it claims and promises to win customers trust. This is expressed by brand credibility which implies customers confidence in brands claim (Erdem & Swait, 1998). Credibility dimension of the brand is concerned with meeting the technical expectations or needs of the customers (Gurviez and Korchia, 2003). Erdem & Swait (2004) has defined it as the believability of the product information contained in a brand, which require consumers perceive that the brand have the ability (i.e., expertise) and willingness to continuously deliver what has been promised. It represents the functional expectations of the consumers from the brand. Credibility refers to the safety and quality guarantee concept (Gurviez and Korchia, 2003) that the brand will fulfil these promises made by it before the transaction (Sichtmann, 2007). Agreeing with the definition of Gurviez and Korchia (2003), the credibility attributed to the brand is the assessment of the brands ability to meet the terms of the exchange in terms of expected performance, i.e., meet consumers technical expectations. Brand credibility is found to reduce perceived risk and brand equity (Erdem & Swait, 1998). Gurviez and Korchia (2003) demonstrated credibility as one of the dimensions of the brand trust which has the most important influence in creating it. Sichtmann (2007) in their study of corporate brand empirically concluded brand credibility as an important antecedent of brand trust.

Extending the preceding research to baby care toiletries brand it is proposed that brand credibility leads to cognitive brand trust as in India, if mothers believe that the baby care brand is safe and provides good quality guarantee then they tends to develop trust into it. Indian mothers are found to be very much concerned about the safety and the quality of the product they buy for their baby and is the most important component influencing their purchase decisions. Brand credibility conforms to the cognitive attribute evaluation process (Johnson and Grayson, 2005).

Exemplarily during qualitative interview with mothers in two Indian cities (Mumbai and Lucknow), respondents commented:

Baby products of this brand deliver exactly what it promises. This makes me to develop a good sense of trust for the brand; I trust baby lotion, soap and cream of this brand as it does not contains harsh chemicals and hence frees me from the worries what if it enters in the babys mouth; Baby products of this brand smells good and gives a soothing comfort and freshness to the baby, this makes me to trust this brand more than any other brand; I trust this brand because its baby products are mild, soft for the babys skin and also dont cause itching to my babys eyes. This indicates that credibility of brand is highly essential for mothers to develop cognitive trust for it as baby care toiletries products are high risk one and credibility of the brand can only motivate mothers to use it for their baby. So the hypothesis emerges: H1: Brand Credibility is an antecedent for generating cognitive brand trust in baby care toiletries product brands.Brand Reputation

Reputation is defined as the overall value, esteem and character of a brand as seen or judged by people in general (Chaudhuri, 2002). It is researched that brand reputation can be the result of good advertising and public relation (Afzal et al, 2010; Lau & Lee, 1999) or the outcome of product quality and performance (Lau & Lee, 1999). Brand reputation has been studied with regard to brand equity, brand sales, market share, price (Chaudhuri, 2002). Brand reputation is said to increase when the consumer is of the opinion that other people think brand is good and then the consumer sufficiently trust the brand for purchasing (Lau & Lee, 1999). Hogan (2007) has identified brand reputation as an essential factor in generating trust among parents while purchasing toys. Extending this factor to baby care products, reputation is important while selecting these products because mothers would purchase only those brands which are popular and carry high esteem. Broadbridge and Morgan (2000) have found that reputation greatly influenced the purchasing behaviour of mothers for baby care products. Reputed brands are considered as tried and tested products and high in quality. They generate trust for the brand as mothers are generally found to avoid new and unknown baby care brands (News Center) and go for only well known reputed brands. Johnson and Grayson (2005) have found reputation as both symbol of value reciprocation and an expression of empathy for the customers. They found reputation to affect both cognitive and affective trust.

The interview with mothers further supported the viewpoint. In this context, mothers stated:

I have used and trusted this baby product brand because of its reputation and good name among mothers; This baby product brand is a renowned brand from ages. My grandmother, mother all has suggested me to use this brand, so how I cant trust it.

This shows that Indian mothers attach importance to reputed brands while purchasing toiletries product brands for their babies. So the hypothesis emerges:

H2: Brand Reputation is an antecedent for generating both (a) cognitive and (b) affective brand trust in baby care toiletries product brands.Brand Origin

Brand origin is defined as the place, region or country to which the brand is perceived to belong by its target consumers (Thakor & Kohli, 1996). Brand origin is found to have significant effect for its liking & purchase intention (Harris et al; 1994, Thakor & Lavack, 2003). Use of favorable brand origin in their marketing strategy gives brands an opportunity to increase trust (Shukla, 2010). It is researched that country of manufacture does not effect perception of brand quality when country of brand origin information is also provided (Thakor & Lavack, 2003). Chlivickas & Smaliukien, (2009) in their study said that brand origin consists of both cognitive & affective components. Customer insights also supported that Indian mothers do look for brand origin information as some of the mothers commented:

Before trusting and buying any product for my baby, I first read about the country from which the brand belongs; Definitely for my baby I will trust only those brands which are originated in developed countries such as U.S.A, U.K. than local made products. Thus, in case of baby care toiletries brands, brand origin is hypothesized to influence both cognitive & affective brand trust.

H3: Brand Origin is an antecedent for generating both (a) cognitive and (b) affective brand trust in baby care toiletries product brands.Brand Predictability

Brand predictability is the ability of ones party to forecast the behavior of another party (Doney and Cannon, 1997). It involves knowledge of past behavior and promises made by the other party to judge their trustworthiness. Lewicki and Bunker (1995) in their study has described that for being predictability to act as a source of trust, two elements are essential to present viz., repeated interaction and courtship. Brand predictability is said to dependent on product attributes and brand worth (Afzal et al., 2010). Product predictability is found to increase trust in a brand because certainty builds positive outlook (Kasperson, Golding, and Tuler, 1992; Afzal et al., 2010). In the context of baby care toiletries brand, from qualitative interviews, it was found that mothers develop trust for those brands whose act they can predict beforehand. They were found to have certain knowledge of brands predictability to act in a positive manner. This was confirmed by respondents during the interview as:

This brand is trustworthy since I can always anticipate correctly how this brand will perform; I can trust this brand as in comparison to other baby care toiletries brands, this brand is known to consistently deliver very high qualityThus, it can be hypothesized that:

H4: Brand Predictability is an antecedent for generating cognitive brand trust in baby care toiletries product brands.Brand Innovativeness

Brand innovativeness is the extent to which consumers perceive brands as being able to provide new and useful solutions to their needs (Schumpeter 1934). Customers develop positive liking towards the brands which focus on providing new, relevant solutions to customer needs (Eisingerich and Rubera, 2010). Customers develop high brand commitment for those brands which has great ability to address consumers wants and needs on a continuous basis (Reichheld and Sasser 1990). Brand innovation is marked by market driving strategy where customers do not ask for the products but companies provide unique business model, the need for which customers have not imagined of (Nirmalaya Kumar, 2008). In case of baby care toiletries product brands, innovation with changing needs of baby is prioritized by Indian mothers. They like brands which provide new and effective solution to their babys need. Exemplarily, mothers during qualitative interviews commented:

I trust this brand because it keeps on modifying its baby products according to the needs of baby; This brand is trustworthy as it has introduced soap cum shampoo baby product in the market. It provides convenience as baby can be bathed with a single product instead of using separately soap and shampoo; This brand keeps on introducing new range of baby toiletries products and can be confidently depended and trusted upon. Concluding from above discussion, following hypothesis has been developed:H5: Brand Innovativeness is an antecedent for generating cognitive brand trust in baby care toiletries product brands.Perceived Value for Money

It is the consumer's overall assessment of the utility of a product brand based on what is received and what is given (Zeithaml, 1988). It is the consumer's perception of the benefits minus the costs of maintaining an ongoing relationship with the brand (Sirdeshmukh et al, 2002). Consumers are found to be inclined towards the exchanges that provide maximum value at sufficient cost to them (Bolton and Drew, 1991, Sirdeshmukh et al, 2002). Yee & Chin (2007) in their study of baby food has found that parents made their purchase decision based on quality price intervention. Exemplarily, mothers commented:When I buy baby toiletry brand, I like to be sure that I am getting my moneys worth; To me brand can only be trustworthy when it provides maximum quality for each rupee I spent.Thus, it can be hypothesized that the baby care toiletries brands which provide value for money are considered to develop cognitive trust.

H6: Value for money positively relates to cognitive brand trust in baby care toiletries product brands.

Brand Intimacy

Intimacy refers to the degree of closeness, connectedness, and bondedness between relationship partners (Thorbjornsen et al; 2002). A brand that does not knows who its customer are, will not earn their trust, regardless of its credibility and reliability (Blackston, 2000). Brand intimacy in the context of baby care toiletries product can be reflected by free distribution of magazines and brochure containing articles on parenting tips such as how to make baby sleep, how to massage baby. In India, various baby care toiletries brands distribute free of cost mother and baby care magazines. They guide the new mothers how to take care of their new borns. Brands which develop intimate relationship with customers are trusted more by Indian mothers. Exemplarily, as mothers commented:

Baby oil of this brand is trusted by me as it contained pamphlets showing pictures and directions how to massage baby, thus boosting my confidence to massage baby in safe manner; I like this brand as it distributes free parenting magazines for guiding new parents how to raise their babies; I have registered on the baby site of this baby product brand during my pregnancy. Weekly newsletters about the pregnancy and baby growth stage were very helpful in solving my queries and boosted my trust in its product after my babys birth; This baby product brand runs socially responsible programs for poor children; it gives me inner happiness while using products of this brand. The previous discussion can thus be summarized by the following hypothesis:

H7: Brand Intimacy is an antecedent for generating affective brand trust in baby care toiletries product brands.Brand Consumption Experience

Brand trust develops with the experience from the past and the present usage of the brand (Garbarino and Johnson, 1999; Ballester & Aleman, 2005). Dwyer et al (1987) in their study related to buyer seller relationship considered consumption experience as more relevant and significant source of brand trust as it generates beliefs and feelings that are more certain and self relevant. The channel relationship literature offers both conceptual and empirical evidence to suggest that as the experience between the partners increases so does the understanding between them (Dwyer et al, 1987). Ballester and Aleman (2001) in their study involving baby care product of baby diapers found that higher the customer is satisfied with the brand from past experience, the higher the trust he has for the brand. Study involving baby food (Yee and Chin, 2007) also mentioned that dissatisfied customers tends to collect less or no awareness about the brand. It is also found that parents who are satisfied with one brand of baby food, remains loyal to them and do not easily switch to other brands.

Indian mothers for baby toiletries brands pay high importance to brand consumption experience for developing trust and long term relationship, since the perceived risk is very high and mothers tend to develop trust for those brands only which has exposed them to a good experience. This was confirmed by respondents during the interview as:

My past experience with the brand is very satisfactory, which makes me to trust it; I have used earlier this brand for my elder child and found it good and trustworthy.

This also implies that brand consumption experience assessment might involve satisfaction from both tangible attribute as well as feelings of emotions such as joy, experience, anger related with the brand. Thus the previous discussion can be summarized by the following hypothesis:

H8: Brand Consumption Experience is an antecedent for generating both (a) cognitive and (b) affective brand trust in baby care toiletries product brands.

Professional Expert Opinion

Baby care product literatures (Broadbridge and Morgan, 2000; Yee and Chin, 2007; Beattie, 2004) have indicated that mothers pay importance to the medical expert opinion while purchasing baby care brands. Mothers develop favorable brand perception for brands which are distributed as sample for trial in the hospitals (Broadbridge and Morgan, 2000). They tend to develop trust for these brands as they are recommended from trusted and experts in the field. Yee and Chin (2007) have reported that if a new brand is introduced in the market than mothers consult first the medical officers about it then only purchase it for use.

In Indian context, importance of expert opinion in generating trust can also be inferred from the fact that companies endorsed their products through the physicians. Some brands even indicate a seal of approval from the medical physicians. Assessment of professional expert opinion is driven by cognitive process and not by any emotional relationship with them. Indian mothers adhere to them as they consider them to be expert in the field and influenced by their knowledge. Its a cognitive process of evaluating their knowledge. Qualitative interviews with mothers further corroborated our viewpoint. Exemplarily, mothers commented:This baby brand has been recommended by a child specialist, then how can I not trust it; I trust that baby brands product which is distributed as sample in hospitals; I totally depend on doctor for developing trust in baby care toiletries product brand.

This means that Indian mothers highly relies on physicians opinion and even considers the brand samples distributed in the hospital and clinics as trustworthy. Mothers are found to trust and purchase new baby care toiletries brand when it is suggested by the professional experts. So, the hypothesis emerges:

H9: Expert professional opinion is an antecedent for generating cognitive brand trust in baby care toiletries product brands.

Family & Peer InfluencersFamily information source here implies the proximal extended family of the customer. Extended family comprises patriarchal or matriarchal parents and numerous siblings with their spouses (Childers and Rao, 1992). Peer group here implies both friends and co workers of the customer. Family and friends are found to be the one of the top information provider in the case of follow up baby food brand choice (Yee and Chin, 2007). Individuals usually turn to their family for advice when buying a product as they consider it as reliable and credible (Shah and Mittal, 1997). Gil et al., (2007) in their study have proposed that the family which repetitively consumes a brand may generate a habit in the individual who would also choose the same brand. Information obtained about the brand through the family is considered as reliable (Childers and Rao, 1992; Moore et al., 2002) and might lead to the formation of brand trust for it. Friends and co workers opinions are also considered as reliable sources for building brand trust (Lau and Lee, 1999).

In Indian context, extended family members also play role in child related decisions. Members of the family interact and influence each other over the life cycle of the family In India, child related responsibility usually remains with the female members of the house (Suppal et al., 1996) and they share their purchase experiences and the brands they have purchased in the past. Beattie (2004) has found that immediately after child birth, Indian women is unlikely to do any shopping and hence her mother or mother-in- law is often involved in shopping products for the baby. It has been found through qualitative interviews that trust transfers in a brand not only on the basis of own experience but also through recommendation of people who belong to customers close social environment such as family and friends. Exemplarily, during qualitative interviews, mothers commented:

My mother, my aunt, my sister and everyone else in my home has used only this brand for babies, then how I cant trust it; My baby got skin allergy so my sister recommended me to use this baby product brand and her advice turned out to be effective; My family has been using this baby product brand from generations; I gathered information from friends about the baby toiletries brands before I buy it; Most of my friends use this baby care brand for their child; hence I can have trust on it. This indicates that in case of Indian society where social relations are strong and close bonded, variable of family and peer information source is important for developing brand trust in the context of baby care toiletries products. Since, this variable of social influence is more concerned with the emotional tie up and attachment, hence anticipated to effect affective trust. Thus, the following hypothesis emerges:

H10: Family influencer is an antecedent for generating affective brand trust in baby care toiletries product brands.H11: Peer influencer is an antecedent for generating affective brand trust in baby care toiletries product brands.

Non Professional Expert OpinionNon professional expert opinion in the context of baby care toiletries brands includes opinion of old experienced ladies of the society, advice of other mothers and midwives. From the qualitative interview it was found that Indian mothers pay importance to the advice of experienced ladies, midwives and opinion of other mothers before trusting any brand for their baby. Since this information source has themselves used the product at some point of time on their baby, hence their experience consists of live example whether to trust a baby care brand or not. Even experience of this source is found to influence mothers to try new and unknown brands present or introduced in the market. However, the importance of this source opinion depends on their past and present credibility. During qualitative interview non professional expert opinion role was supported by following mothers view:

I came to know and develop trust for this baby care toiletry brand when experienced lady of my society who has been using this brand for years told me about it; Nurse of the children hospital told me about the effectiveness of this brand

Thus, from the above discussion it can be hypothesized that:

H12: Non professional expert opinion is an antecedent for generating cognitive brand trust in baby care toiletries product brands.Mass Media Influencers

Mass media influencer here implies information through television, newspaper, radio and internet advertisements. In case of baby products, mass media advertisements play important role in creating awareness for the products. Yee and Chin (2007) found that majority of mothers become accustomed to infant food brands through advertisement and it served as major influencer in the purchase decision. Mass media creates a distinctive brand positioning in the minds of the consumer (Broadbridge and Morgan, 2000; De Chernatony and Mc William, 1989) and creates positive attitude towards the brand. Mass media sources can generate trust only when they deliver the right information (Burmann and Zeplin, 2005) and promises made through advertisements are consistently kept. In case of baby care toiletries products, mass media information source can generate trust among the mothers when the fair and enough information have been provided and authenticity and transparency appears from the advertisements.

Since baby products are high risk products, hence before trusting any brand for final purchase, Indian mothers seek information through various media sources. They even read the brand review available on various social networking sites and seek opinion from other mothers about the brand through internet media source. Beattie (2004) have found that in India, one of the major baby care brand Johnson & Johnson advertise widely in English and Hindi media and publish special baby issues in womens magazines. Positive information through mass media sources can help build a good brand image for a baby care product. During qualitative interview this was supported by mothers view:

Information and recommendation to use this baby product brand through television, radio and newspaper advertisement boast my confidence to use and trust this brand; I read the positive review of this baby product brand on the popular baby internet sites and hence trusted and used it; This brand has the maximum media presence and is the most popular and trusted brand among the mothers Based on the discussion above, the following hypothesis is presented:

H13: Mass media influencer is an antecedent for generating both (a) affective and (b) cognitive brand trust in baby care toiletries product brands.

Cognitive and Affective Brand Trust

Cognitive trust provides the path to affective trust and hence anticipated to exist before affective trust develops (Lewis and Weigert, 1985; Johnson and Grayson, 2005). In this study, we support Johnson and Grayson (2005) that cognitive trust leads to affective trust and is the antecedent to it. Since, in baby care toiletries product, mothers will develop affective trust through family & peer influencers, media influencers, brand reputation and brand consumption experience. But these all in the initial stage must have arisen out of knowledge driven trust. Such as what social and media source tells about a brand is based on the attribute evaluation by the mothers in the early stage. Reputation is also built only when the brand performs effectively. Hence, we can hypothesize that cognitive brand trust is positively related to affective brand trust.

H14: Cognitive brand trust is positively related to affective brand trust in the context of baby care toiletries products.

3.2 Consequences of Cognitive and Affective Brand Trust in Baby Care Toiletry Products: Research HypothesisIn case of baby care toiletries product brand, development of brand trust is essential for brand commitment and WOM for it to emerge. As mothers due to high risk and uncertainty involved with the product category, would hardly purchase any baby care brand which is not trustworthy. While interviewing, mothers stated that if the perceived brand characteristics and external influences factors do not generate trust then it would not result in higher brand commitment and also not publicize about the brand through word of mouth behavior. Therefore in this study it is conceptualized that brand trust represents the generic mechanism through which the proposed focal independent variables are able to positively influence brand commitment and WOM behavior.

Brand Commitment

Commitment has been defined as an enduring desire to maintain a valued relationship (Moorman, Zaltman and Deshpande, 1992). Brand Commitment is the implicit or explicit intention to maintain a durable relationship with the brand (Gurviez and Korchia (2002). It is said that greater the commitment to the brand, the firmly customer fixed his choice only to that brand in the product category (Dholakia, 1997; Traylor, 1981). Ballester and Aleman (2001) for the baby diapers product found that the customers who generates trust for a brand remains committed to it. Parents are found to be committed to the baby brand products, if they built trust for them (Yee and Chin, 2007). They remain committed to it and do not easily switch brands. Commitment has both cognitive and affective components (Wang, 2002). Hess and Story (2005) have researched that the combination of personal and functional connections determines the level of brand commitment. Exemplarily, during qualitative interviews, mothers commented: I trust this baby care toiletry brand so much that even if another baby care toiletries brand is on sale, I would generally purchase my trusted brand than the other one; I will continue to use my favorite brand for my baby in the futureThus, it can be hypothesized that both cognitive and affective trust leads to brand commitment in case of baby care toiletries products, since mothers when develops trust for a brand stay committed to it. Also it is hypothesized that when brand commitment develops than mothers increase communicating about it through WOM behavior and also perceived risk for the brand decreases with increase in brand commitment.

H15 (a): Cognitive brand Trust in a baby care toiletries brand positively affects the commitment for it.

H15 (b): Affective brand Trust in a baby care toiletries brand positively affects the commitment for it.

H16: Brand commitment positively increases WOM behavior in the context of baby care toiletries product brands

H17: Brand commitment negatively affects perceived risk in the context of baby care toiletries product brands

Word of Mouth Behavior

WOM is what consumers tell each other after using a brand (Swan and Oliver, 2001). WOM can be both positive and negative. It is the recommendation to use or not to use a brand (Arndt, 1967). Sichtmann (2007) found that trust in a brand positively affects the WOM behavior of the customers. In case of baby care toiletries product, it can be proposed that when the customers develops brand trust either affective or cognitive, it leads to positive word of mouth behavior. During qualitative interview this was supported by mothers view:

I often tell other mothers about the baby care toiletry brand which I trust; If anyone asked me which baby toiletry brand she should choose I would recommend this one.Thus, it can be hypothesized:

H18 (a): Cognitive brand Trust in a baby care toiletries brand positively affects the WOM for it.

H18 (b): Affective brand Trust in a baby care toiletries brand positively affects the WOM for it.Perceived Risk

Perceived risk is the potential loss due to brand failure after purchase (Laroche et al, 2004). It implies some degree of uncertainty about the outcome of an action which caries the possibility of physical harm or some other damage. Mothers perceive the purchase of baby care toiletries product risky because consumption is by baby (Broadbridge and Morgan, 2000). If consumers perceive high risk and have no trust in a brand, they will be unlikely to enter into any relationship with it (March, 2006). Thus, with increase in brand trust, perceived risk attached with it gets reduced. Exemplarily, during qualitative interviews, mothers commented: I dont perceive any risk on buying the product of this baby care toiletry brand as I trust it a lot; I trust this brand so much for my baby that I dont fear that it would have any adverse effect on my babys skinThus, it can be hypothesized:H19 (a): Higher perception of cognitive brand trust results in lower perception of perceived risk in baby care toiletries brandsH19 (b): Higher perception of affective brand trust results in lower perception of perceived risk in baby care toiletries brands3.3 The Mediating Role of Brand TrustSome, past studies provided empirical evidence that several factors such as brand innovativeness (Eisingerich and Rubera, 2010), brand experience (Ballester and Aleman, 2005), quality, brand communication (Burmann and Zeplin, 2004), brand characteristics, customer characteristics (Hess and Story, 2005) develops brand commitment directly. However, there are few papers (Ballester and Aleman, 2001; Garbarino and Johnson, 1999; Sichtmann (2007; Johnson and Grayson, 2005; Lau and Lee, 1999) that conceptualized and empirically verified that some of the antecedent factors generate brand trust and brand trust in turn generates brand commitment. Baron and Kenny (1986) in their seminal paper defined that a mediator variable is a variable that represents the generic mechanism through which the focal independent variables are able to positively influence the outcome variable. Further, in the context of relationship marketing, Morgan and Hunt (1994) had suggested and empirically established that trust and commitment are key mediating variables for establishing, developing and maintaining successful relationship exchanges. Auh (2005) in the context of service marketing had divided the attributes that generate loyalty as soft and hard attributes. Drawing inspiration from social exchange theory he argued that soft attributes involve more human interactions like social and relational attributes whereas hard attributes are related to the core of the service such as competence, functionality, and reliability. Auh (2005) further provided empirical evidence that trust is a mediator in the relationship between the soft attributes such as interaction quality, characteristics similarity and loyalty.

However, in this study it is conceptualized that brand trust represents the generic mechanism through which these focal independent variables are able to positively influence brand commitment, perceived risk and WOM behavior. Both literature review and qualitative study supported that in case of baby care toiletries product brand, development of brand trust is essential for brand commitment and WOM for it to emerge. As mothers due to high risk and uncertainty involved with the product category, would hardly purchase any baby care brand which is not trustworthy. In a similar vein, the mediating role of trust has been conceptualized in the model outlined in the previous section. Thus the next set of hypotheses with trust as a mediator variable is framed as follows.

H20: Cognitive Brand Trust mediates

(a) the positive effect of brand credibility on brand commitment.(b) the positive effect of brand predictability on brand commitment.

(c ) the positive effect of brand innovativeness on brand commitment

(d) the positive effect of brand origin on brand commitment

(e) the positive effect of brand reputation on brand commitment

(f) the positive effect of brand consumption experience on brand commitment

(g) the positive effect of perceived value for money on brand commitment

(h) the positive effect of professional expert opinion on brand commitment

(i) the positive effect of non professional expert opinion on brand commitment

(j) the positive effect of mass media influencer on brand commitment

H 21: Affective Brand trust mediates

(a) the positive effect of brand origin on brand commitment

(b) the positive effect of brand reputation on brand commitment

(c) the positive effect of brand consumption experience on brand commitment

(d) the positive effect of brand intimacy on brand commitment(e) the positive effect of mass media influencer on brand commitment

(f) the positive effect of family information influencers on brand commitment

(g) the positive effect of friends information influencer on brand commitment

Similarly it is hypothesized that the focal independent variables negatively influences perceived risk through brand trust. In other words the antecedent variables are able to reduce perceived risk by developing brand trust towards baby care toiletries products. Therefore, the following are hypothesizedH22: Cognitive Brand Trust mediates:

(a) the negative effect of brand credibility on perceived risk.

(b) the negative effect of brand predictability on perceived risk.

(c ) the negative effect of brand innovativeness on perceived risk.

(d) the negative effect of brand origin on perceived risk.

(e) the negative effect of brand reputation on perceived risk.

(f) the negative effect of brand consumption experience on perceived risk.

(g) the negative effect of perceived value for money on perceived risk.

(h) the negative effect of professional expert opinion on perceived risk.

(i) the negative effect of non professional expert opinion on perceived risk.

(j) the negative effect of mass media influencer on perceived risk.

H23:Affective Brand Trust mediates:

(a) the negative effect of brand intimacy on perceived risk.

(b) the negative effect of brand origin on perceived risk.

(c) the negative effect of brand reputation on perceived risk.

(d) the negative effect of brand consumption experience on perceived risk.

(e) the negative effect of mass media influencer on perceived risk.

(f) the negative effect of family information influencer on perceived risk.

(g) the negative effect of friend information influencer on perceived risk.

In the similar way, it is hypothesized that the focal independent variables positively influences word of mouth behavior through brand trust. Therefore, the following are hypothesized

H24: Cognitive Brand Trust mediates:

(a) the positive effect of brand credibility on WOM behavior.

(b) the positive effect of brand predictability on WOM behavior.

(c ) the positive effect of brand innovativeness on WOM behavior

(d) the positive effect of brand origin on WOM behavior

(e) the positive effect of brand reputation on WOM behavior

(f) the positive effect of brand consumption experience on WOM behavior

(g) the positive effect of perceived value for money on WOM behavior

(h) the positive effect of professional expert opinion on WOM behavior

(i) the positive effect of non professional expert opinion on WOM behavior

(j) the positive effect of mass media influencer on WOM behavior

H25: Affective Brand Trust mediates:

(a) the positive effect of brand intimacy on WOM behavior

(b) the positive effect of brand origin on WOM behavior

(c) the positive effect of brand reputation on WOM behavior

(d) the positive effect of brand consumption experience on WOM behavior

(e) the positive effect of mass media influencer on WOM behavior

(f) the positive effect of family information influencers on WOM behavior

(g) the positive effect of friends information influencer on WOM behavior.Figure 1 inter relates the prepositions to form the conceptual framework showing the various antecedents and consequences of brand trust in the context of baby care toiletries product.

Figure 1: Conceptual Framework.

3.4 The moderating effect of Mothers Demographics on antecedents of Brand Trust: Research Hypothesis.Researches have indicated that purchasing behavior for baby care products are influenced by the demographic profile of the parents. Research work such as Yee and Chin (2007), Chen, Au and Li (2004), Prendergast and Wong, (2003), Beattie (2004) has studied the impact of parents demographics in the purchase decision of children products. Thus, taking cue from the above works in this study education, occupation, family str