The Concept of Trust RD September 2001

What is trust? "...trust is a term with many meanings." (Williamson, 1993, p.453) "Trust is itself a term for a clustering of perceptions." (White, 1992, p.174)

Disciplinary views of trust Personality theorists: (A) a generalized expectancy that the word, promise, or verbal or written statement of another is reliable. (B) a faith in humanity. (C) trust as a core personality characteristic. (D) influence of (early) life events that affect an individual’s predisposition to trust.

Sociologists and Economists Focus on trust as an institutional phenomenon. Trust is the “perception that those in authority are not biased against one, that the working of the system does not result in special costs for oneself and one’s group” (Flacks, 1969, p.132). Relationship between trust and fairness.

Social Psychologists Focus on the transactions between individuals that create or destroy trust. Trust - an expectation of the party(ies) in a transaction that they will behave in a certain way.

Trust & Relationships Trust is a dynamic phenomenon. It evolves and changes. Different types of trust at different stages of a relationship. Lewicki and Bunker (1995) identified 3 types or stages of trust in relationships: Calculus-based trust Knowledge-based trust Identification-based trust

Calculus-based Trust Trust founded on consistency and behavior control through deterrence. “Deterrence-based trust exists when the potential costs of discontinuing the relationship or the likelihood of retributive action outweigh the short- term advantage of acting in a distrustful way” (Shapiro et al, 1992, p.366).

Personal reputation as hostage. Future relationships with the same parties. Calculus of a cost-benefit analysis. There must be penalties for violating trust.

Fragility of Trust Calculus-based trust (CBT) is very fragile and easily destroyed. In CBT relationships the parties are careful about the degree of risk (vulnerability) and build in safeguards to protect themselves.

Knowledge-based Trust Relies on information rather than deterrence. The better we know an individual, the more accurately we can predict what he or she will do. As long as the other remains predictable, trust will endure. Predictability enhances trust even if the other person is predictably untrustworthy.

Regular communication puts a party in constant contact with the other. It enhances our ability to understand the way that others approach the world. Japanese vs American approach to business relationships.

Identification-based Trust Trust based on a full internalization of the other’s desires and intentions. Mutual understanding developed to the point where one party could act as the agent for the other. Activities that can strengthen this type of trust: collective identity, co-location, joint goals, shared values.

What type of trust is most commonly associated with environmental conflicts?

Source:

Trust and Distrust “Rather than being a unidimensional construct, …. trust and distrust can coexist within the same relationship (parties can trust each other on some dimensions and distrust each other on others). Most complex relationships are thereby characterized by ambivalence, in which we trust others on some dimensions and distrust on others, and that we engage in fundamentally different action strategies to enhance trust and to manage (control) distrust”. Roy Lewicki

“…..the trick for mediators may not necessarily be building trust (a desirable goal) but to manage DISTRUST in a way to keep it within bounds and limits.” Roy Lewicki (