Toward a framework for establishing trust in B2B digital selling environments

Abstract

This exploratory study investigates how trust manifests and influences customer trust in salespeople within a B2B digital selling environment. With the meteoric rise in digital selling over the past decade, and the proliferation of virtual platforms, CRM systems, AI, and automation, the nature of sales interactions has evolved, thereby reshaping the mechanisms through which trust is established, maintained, or eroded. Building on prior trust literature and sales theory as a backdrop, this study explores how trust drivers manifest within digital interactions and shape buyer perceptions. Adopting a qualitative interpretivist approach, the study employed semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 20 experienced B2B buyers across five continents. Drawing on insights from buyers across multiple industries, results indicate that while preexisting antecedents remain relevant, they now manifest and are expressed differently through digital behaviour, communication, platform presence, responsiveness, and online credibility. Competence and professional credibility exhibited via expertise in digital interaction or fluency, demonstration of experience, firm size visibility and online reputation emerged as the most referenced trust category, followed by ethical conduct and trustworthiness demonstrated via integrity and dependability, and then relational attributes like likability and continuity. Factors such as digital expertise, effective information sharing, and dependability, were identified as the most critical antecedents of trust in B2B digital sales. Buyers emphasized that trust in digital sales is built not on physical proximity but on transparent, consistent, and contextually adaptive digital engagement. The study culminates in a practitioner-oriented framework, offering sales professionals a diagnostic and strategic tool to navigate trust-building in digital contexts. It offers actionable guidance for tailoring digital behaviours to different customer segments and sales stages, ultimately enhancing relational capital in technology-mediated environments.