The mediating role of trust in bridging the ESG assurance credibility chasm

Abstract This study investigates the mediating role of stakeholder trust in bridging the “credibility chasm” caused by the Environmental, Social, and Governance Assurance Expectation Gap (ESG-AEG). Drawing on Limperg’s Theory of Inspired Confidence and Stakeholder Theory, the research deconstructs the ESG-AEG into three distinct dimensions: Reasonable Gap, Deficient Standard, and Deficient Performance. Quantitative data were collected from a survey of 217 professional users of ESG reports in Vietnam, a representative emerging market where ESG assurance remains voluntary. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) reveals that while all three gap dimensions significantly erode trust, Deficient Performance exerts the strongest negative impact, suggesting that stakeholders penalize perceived execution failures more severely than cognitive misalignments. Crucially, the mediation analysis confirms that trust acts as a pivotal gatekeeper, fully mediating the relationship between expectation gaps and the ultimate outcomes of perceived credibility and stakeholder reliance. These findings offer actionable insights for regulators and practitioners in transitional economies, emphasizing that bridging the technical gap is insufficient without restoring the psychological mechanism of trust.