Abstract

Organised bartering is growing in the business world. The key factor for companies to enter this network and habitually use its services is the confidence represented by (and placed in) the intermediary. This investigation proposed a causal model showing which factors determined confidence in an intermediary in the commercial barter industry. The methodology used was causal and quantitative and was applied to all Barterhouse S.A.'s clients (this being the only commercial bartering company in Chile). The empirical results established that the mediator's reputation and communication, the same as its members' satisfaction, directly and positively influenced the relationship between network member and intermediary.