A Study on the Effect of Consulting Company’s signaling factors on Trust and Intention of Clients -Targeting Franchise companies

Abstract

Background/Objectives: This study aims to identify the relationship between the signal factors of the consulting firm on the client's trust and intention, anticipate the interaction relationship, and contribute to the development of competitiveness in the business by effectively recognizing the client's capabilities and securing strategy to the consulting order. Methods/Statistical analysis: This study conducted a survey of employees working at franchise companies to find out the cause and effect of the client's trust and contract. Questionnaire composed of Likert's 5-point scale. Using SPSS win version 20.0 and AMOS 20.0 statistical tools, collected samples were
analyzed by validity and reliability analysis, and multiple regression analysis. Findings: This study established the hypothesis of structural relationship that the signal factor of the consulting firm affects the client's trust and the degree of contract, and conducted verification through empirical analysis. Analysis of the impact of the signal factor of the consulting firm on the client's trust showed that the five factors, Assurance, Reliability, Empathy, Responsiveness and Tangibles that make up the signal factor of the consulting firm had a positive effect on cognitive and emotional dimension. On the other hand, the last signal factor, Promotion, was not significant. Among the signal factors of consulting firms, signals that have a high influence on cognitive trust were shown sequentially with Reliability, Assurance, Tangibles, Responsiveness and Empathy. It was also shown that both cognitive and emotional dimension have been shown to have a positive effect on the client's intention, especially emotional dimension has a higher impact on the client's intention than on cognitive trust. Improvements/Applications: this study identified the signal factors of the consulting firm. There may be limitations as a composition of signal factors for consulting firms, so detailed signals need to be considered.