Journal of
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Archive » January 2018 » Financial advisors and the role of investors’ trust

Financial advisors and the role of investors’ trust

Caterina Cruciani, Gloria Gardenal, Ugo Rigoni
January 2018 - n. 1
Jel codes: G11, G23

This study analyzes the fiduciary relationship between Financial advisors and their clients, using data from 1,209 questionnaires collected among Italian professional financial advisors. It looks explicitely at two different measures of trust (direct and indirect) and it analyses how trust evolves over time. Indirect trust is measured using the percentage of a client's wealth that he decides to invest with the advisor, while direct trust is measured through self-evaluation of perceived trustworthiness by the advisors. The results show that initial trust is mainly based upon the anticipation of a mutually advantageous exchange. Once the professional relationship stabilizes, trust is increasingly explained by relational features, which contribute to qualifying the advisor as a «money doctor». The comparison between the elements underlying indirect and direct trust show that they differ significantly, as their underlying elements do, identifying a discrepancy between the two measures.

 

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