Abstract
Business-to-business selling is being reshaped by rapid advances in digital platforms, enterprise systems, analytics, and artificial intelligence. Organizational buyers increasingly rely on algorithmic tools, peer communities, institutional certifications, and automated evaluation systems before engaging directly with sales representatives. Yet much of the buyer–seller trust literature continues to emphasize interpersonal communication quality, listening behaviors, and individual credibility as primary drivers of relational success.
This article argues that the central transformation in contemporary selling is not the erosion of trust, but its relocation. As technological infrastructures evolve, trust progressively migrates from individual sales representatives to organizational systems, platforms, governance mechanisms, and algorithmic processes. To explain this shift, we introduce a multilevel framework linking information technology eras, information regimes, and buyer–seller communication systems. Information regimes are conceptualized as institutionalized configurations of information sources, validation mechanisms, and legitimacy criteria that condition how trust is formed and maintained.
The framework integrates relationship marketing, organizational buying behavior, institutional theory, and technology adoption research to explain systematic changes in trust loci across technological environments. Propositions and hypotheses are developed to guide empirical testing. The model offers both theoretical extension and practical guidance for sales and marketing leaders navigating digitally mediated business markets.
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