Ability, benevolence, and integrity: The strong link between student trust in their professors and satisfaction

Improving student satisfaction remains a critical pursuit for institutions of higher education to address enduring challenges with student retention and persistence. Student trust in their professors offers one potentially impactful approach that faculty can individually pursue to improve such student satisfaction. However, the link between trust and satisfaction, including how trust is formed, has largely been overlooked in higher education research. Given this gap, we present initial empirical validation via partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) of U.S. business student survey data of the profound impact of the ABI model of trust, which comprises ability (knowledge and skills), benevolence (concern for others), and integrity (sound ethical and moral principles). The results confirm ABI as a second-order construct that directly measures student trust in their professors rather than ABI serving as antecedents to such trust. Moreover, ABI trust acts as an exceptionally strong predictor of satisfaction for both undergraduate and graduate business students, positioning student trust in professors as critical in higher education. Accordingly, we organize feedback from a survey of faculty to present specific, actionable tactics that professors can apply in their classes to enhance ABI trust, thereby elevating not only student satisfaction but also their own teaching evaluations. •Student trust in their professors is a measure that can be used to improve student satisfaction and persistence.•The link between trust and satisfaction is under-studied in higher education research.•Ability, benevolence, and integrity offer a meaningful way to measure interpersonal trust.•ABI trust acts as an exceptionally strong predictor of satisfaction and persistence in business students.•Faculty feedback shows specific tactics professors can use to improve trust with students.