Table 9 Potential avenues for future... | Emerald Publishing

Table 9

Potential avenues for future research

Finding	Potential research questions
There is a lack of research that explores distrust in its own regard	How does distrust function differently from trust in shaping beliefs, emotions, and behaviours? Are there contexts where distrust serves a protective or functional role, rather than being purely detrimental?
There is conflicting evidence regarding the relationship between consumer trust and distrust	Is there a universal relationship between trust and distrust or are there contextual boundaries? What mechanisms could explain the co-existence of trust and distrust?
There are conceptual differences between consumer trust and distrust in a service context with little consensus	How does the interplay between trust and distrust impact consumer behaviour? How should trust and distrust be measured to account for any conceptual differences between them?
Trust and distrust vary for actors across the three levels of the energy ecosystem	Does trust and distrust in different service levels/actors influence distinct consumer behaviours within the same service ecosystem? How does trust and distrust differ across different services ecosystems (e.g. energy vs healthcare vs education)?
Different trust-building and distrust-reducing strategies are needed at each level of the ecosystem	In what ways can service ecosystems be structured to foster trust while appropriately managing distrust across ecosystem levels? How do service outcomes vary across different levels of consumer trust and distrust?

Finding	Potential research questions
There is a lack of research that explores distrust in its own regard	How does distrust function differently from trust in shaping beliefs, emotions, and behaviours? Are there contexts where distrust serves a protective or functional role, rather than being purely detrimental?
There is conflicting evidence regarding the relationship between consumer trust and distrust	Is there a universal relationship between trust and distrust or are there contextual boundaries? What mechanisms could explain the co-existence of trust and distrust?
There are conceptual differences between consumer trust and distrust in a service context with little consensus	How does the interplay between trust and distrust impact consumer behaviour? How should trust and distrust be measured to account for any conceptual differences between them?
Trust and distrust vary for actors across the three levels of the energy ecosystem	Does trust and distrust in different service levels/actors influence distinct consumer behaviours within the same service ecosystem? How does trust and distrust differ across different services ecosystems (e.g. energy vs healthcare vs education)?
Different trust-building and distrust-reducing strategies are needed at each level of the ecosystem	In what ways can service ecosystems be structured to foster trust while appropriately managing distrust across ecosystem levels? How do service outcomes vary across different levels of consumer trust and distrust?

Source(s): Authors’ own work