Hosted by
Professor Sandy Jap, Emory University
Professor Kent Grayson, Northwestern University
Sponsored by
This conference will bring together academics who study trust and its impact in various disciplines, e.g. consumer behavior, entrepreneurship, etc., as well as executives who are managing trust challenges in today’s marketplace. Unlike most academic conferences, this event is uniquely designed to feature presentations that include a combination of researchers and business leaders from multiple retail channels, including direct selling, and will focus on making actionable connections between research and business practice.
For the researchers who attend, this event is an opportunity to exchange ideas and insights with like-minded researchers about a shared research interest. It is also an opportunity to hear about real-world trust challenges and evolving market practices, which will provide insights that spark new research ideas and opportunities.
The event is sponsored by the Direct Selling Educational Foundation. Direct selling is an approach to product distribution that depends heavily on trust for success. Executives from a variety of industries and backgrounds will attend and participate.
AGENDA
| Tuesday, August 29 | |
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12:00pm – 12:30pm |
Lunch |
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12:30pm – 1:00pm |
Welcome Gary Huggins Researching and Managing Trust Conference Co-Chairs: Professor Kent Grayson In this session, Kent Grayson and Sandy Jap will provide an overview of what trust means to companies and customers, and will discuss why direct selling is a particularly useful context for understanding and researching trust. |
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1:00pm – 2:00pm |
What Constitutes Harm in Voluntary Business Arrangements Professor Anne Coughlan Gary Huggins Uncertainties inherent in the entrepreneurial direct selling distributor opportunity suggest the possibility of ex post outcomes that fail to meet a distributor’s ex ante expectations. This research analyzes when and whether such divergences rise to the level of true economic harm to a distributor. True harm is defined as “Avoidable Economic Loss,” or AEL, and used to analyze an economic model of distributor participation that reveals the underlying conditions for true harm to occur. The results suggest that trust in a DS distributorship economic opportunity may be best maintained not by trying to assure “gains” to all, but instead through persistent efforts to educate prospects and participants about the entrepreneurial nature of DS and its attendant uncertainties. Similarly, economic analysis of these entrepreneurial opportunities requires that the analyst clearly disclose the underpinnings of their analyses in order for the reader to have trust in their findings. |
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2:00pm – 2:30pm |
Break |
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2:30pm – 3:30pm |
Self-Regulation: Revolution to Improve the Marketplace Professor Linda Ferrell Professor OC Ferrell Peter Marinello Professor Kent Grayson Bonnie Patten How can we enhance trust in an industry or profession? One approach is via “self-regulation,” where members of an industry or profession monitor and enforce their own adherence to legal, ethical, or safety standards. In this section, several experts will discuss the purpose of self-regulation, and how it can bolster trust. These experts will also discuss the structure and activities of the Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council (DSSRC), which is the direct selling industry’s self-regulatory body. How is the DSSRC enhancing trust in direct selling, and how can it do better? |
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3:30pm – 4:30pm |
Law Enforcement Views of Direct Selling: Working Together to Protect Consumers Kevin Anderson Kathleen Daffan Daniel Kaufman Federal and state law enforcement officials will discuss how they enforce relevant laws to distinguish between legitimate businesses and bad actors. Based on experience and enforcement actions, they will describe how they analyze and review the business practices of companies and independent salespeople to ensure that consumers are protected. |
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4:30pm – 4:45pm |
Day One Wrap Conference Co-Chair Professor Sandy Jap |
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5:00pm – 6:00pm |
Reception |
| Wednesday, August 30 | |
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8:30am – 8:45am |
Day Two Opening Remarks Conference Co-Chairs: Professor Kent Grayson |
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8:45am – 9:30am |
Building Trust in a Fake News World Professor Adam Mills Professor Kelly Weidner Social media can have a significant impact on brand trust. Brands often build trust via social media, but trust can also be shattered by online activity. This panel features researchers who have studied how people navigate a social-media environment, where distrust can be high and where claims cannot easily be evaluated for truth or falsity. The conversation will also examine the factors that encourage people to share fake news, what inspires people to “cancel” brands online, and how firms can counter online disinformation. |
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9:30am – 10:15am |
Technology, Trust and Change Professor Joe Hair Professor Dana Harrison Gordon Hester Professor Greg Marshall No business is immune to disruption. For companies and brands, the strongest insurance against competition and disruption is investment in key stakeholders – from salespeople, to consumers to online communities – and technology has enabled connection while driving strategic change in business processes. Consumers can choose whether they engage with a company or its salesforce, eliminating high-pressure sales. The modern salesforce has instant access to training/motivation apps and support, drawing a clear line of distinction between untrustworthy schemes and legitimate business. And Augmented Reality (AR) try-on tools and drop-shipping, have made inventory stocking obsolete. |
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10:15am – 10:30am |
Break |
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10:30am – 11:15am |
Building Trust in Sales Relationships Professor Michael Ahearne Jesse Sladek Tina Reese Robert Kelly What does it take for a salesperson to build a trusting relationship with a customer? This panel of senior sales practitioners will discuss the evolving role of trust in buyer/seller relationships. There will be a particular emphasis on the evolving expectations of customers as well as the changing strategies of sales organizations. |
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11:15am – 12:00pm |
Best Practices in Academic-Company Research Partnerships Charlotte Blank Professor Victoria Crittenden Professor Caroline Glackin Professor Christopher Hopkins Professor Sandy Jap Research based on real-world data from companies often has the advantage of being more convincing, more applicable, and therefore more impactful. However, successful research partnerships between academics and companies are difficult to establish, and equally difficult to maintain. In this session we’ll hear from academics and company executives who have been involved with successful research partnerships, including strategies for establishing and maintaining these relationships, as well as pitfalls to avoid. |
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12:00pm – 12:45pm |
Trust and Ethics in Marketing Channels Professor Linda Ferrell Professor Tracy Gonzalez-Padron Andrew Schmidt Businesses require legitimacy to maintain functional, long-term relationships with the various communities on which they depend. Legitimacy is a measure of the attitude of society toward an industry and its activities, based on cultural norms for corporate behavior. We will explore the ethical responsibilities to company stakeholders to maintain the reputation of the business model and create trust with consumers, providers, and the industry. |
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12:45pm – 1:45pm |
Lunch |
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1:45pm – 2:45pm |
Crafting the Passion to Persist Professor Victoria Crittenden Professor Charla Brown Professor Nicole Beachum Economic inequality and workforce re-skilling are topics of keen interest in today’s ever-changing economic environment. This panel led by Professor Vicky Crittenden will explore the potential for micro-entrepreneurs to increase their self-confidence while growing their direct selling businesses. This economic and societal empowerment occurs via the technological training and support provided by direct selling companies that see the value in extending resources beyond traditionally bounded relationships. |
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2:45pm – 3:45pm |
Research Roundtable Discussions |
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3:45pm – 4:00pm |
Research Ideas Collected |
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4:00pm – 4:30pm |
Day Two Wrap and Closing Remarks Conference Co-Chairs: Professor Kent Grayson |