Understanding the Dynamics of the Individual Donor’s Trust Damage in the Philanthropic Sector

Although trust is long known to be critical to predict behaviors in a charitable context, little research has examined trust damage and its effects on giving behavior. Trust damage is an intermediate state between trust and distrust, rather than a simple reversal or extension, and can change over time. Our research explores individual donor’s trust damage through a dynamic evolution. Across the longitudinal survey, we conclude that the trust damage of pre-giving, giving, and post-giving stage plays different roles in the decision-making process. Trust damage does not play a direct role in the giving intention, but it can indirectly affect giving intention through its impact on perceived benefit and perceived risk. Individual donor’s satisfaction has a strong effect on post-giving trust or continual trust damage, which in turn positively affects future giving intention and behavior. Several important insights for practitioners in the nonprofit sector are also discussed.     

Trust as risk and the foundation of investment value

Trust is an essential ingredient of the investment process because investing is complex, the world contains irreducible uncertainty, and humans are naturally predisposed to cooperate. Traditional financial models inappropriately treat trust as probability or implicitly ignore it. This paper argues that trust has both cognitive and affective attributes that make it an important determinant of perceived investment risk. Specifically, perceived risk varies inversely with trust. This paper also discusses how trust offers a logical and parsimonious explanation for many financial asset pricing anomalies. Trust is the unseen faith underlying investment value.     

Trust and Health Care

Trust is believed to be particularly salient to the provision of health care, and since the establishment of the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK, trust has played an important role in the relationships between its three key actors: the state, healthcare practitioners, and patients and the public. Service users trusted the judgement, knowledge and expertise of health professionals to provide a competent service that met their needs, and they trusted the state to ensure equity in the allocation of public goods and services. These implicit or taken-for-granted trust relationships have, it is claimed, been challenged as a result of the introduction of changes in the organisation and funding for the health service, in the regulation and performance assessment of health professionals, and in public attitudes to health care and scientific medicine. This paper considers the influences of social changes and recent policy and professional initiatives in health care on the structure of trust relations in health care in the UK. It presents a theoretical framework for examining trust relations using the NHS as a case study and concludes with an agenda for future research.     

In regulation we trust

The role of trust has been argued to play an increasingly important role in modern, complex, and ambivalent risk societies. Trust within organizational research is anticipated to have a general strategic impact on aspects such as organizational performance, communication and knowledge exchange, and learning from accidents. Trust is also an important aspect related to regulation of risk. Diverse regulatory regimes, their contexts and risks influence regulators use of trust and distrust in regulatory practice. The aim of this paper is to discuss the relationship between risk regulation and trust across diverse risk regulation regimes. By drawing from studies of risk regulation, risk perception, and trust the purpose is to discuss how regulation and trust are linked and used in practice to control risk across system levels in socio-technical systems in high risk industries. This paper provides new knowledge on 1) how functional and dysfunctional trust and distrust are grounded in the empirical realities of high risk industries, 2) how different perspectives on trust and distrust act together and bring new knowledge on how society control risk.     

Trust and Subjective Well‐being after the Great East Japan Earthquake,Tsunami and Nuclear Meltdown: Preliminary Results

This paper presents preliminary results of an analysis of trust in governmental institutions and social networks after the disaster of 11 March 2011, as well as an investigation of the implication of such trust resources for subjective well‐being. Using data from a postal survey carried out in the Tōhoku and Kanto region in September 2011, differences in trust resources are explored by regional proximity to the disaster area as well as by personal affliction. Levels of social trust prove to be generally high, whilst trust in governmental institutions is low, especially when personally affected by the disaster. Trust resources are shown to contribute positively to subjective well‐being and thus to constitute an important asset in the process of coping with disaster.     

A characterization of trust,and its consequences

Trust is understood in terms of a) acceptance of dependency in b) the absence of information about the other’s reliability in order to c) create an outcome otherwise unavailable. The first of these is the cost of trust; the second, the situation of uncertainty it faces and may overcome; the third, its purchase. This account permits: distinction between trust and similar relations with which it is frequently confused; discovery of the basis of trust in the emotional apprehension of confidence; and demonstration of the relationship between trust and both social capital and rationality, with counter-intuitive results.

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Determinants and Consequences of Social Trust*

This article provides an overview of social trust, examining its various aspects and components. Trust is best understood in a sociological sense by focusing on its important relational characteristic. Following this lead, the article discusses briefly how social trust relates to social capital and examines factors that shape the development of social trust, along with outcomes related to variations in trust, classifying them by analytical level (i.e., individual, community, group, organizational, and societal). The article concludes by assessing the strengths and weaknesses of existing research and by identifying some important questions that have not yet been adequately addressed.     

Trust responsiveness. On the dynamics of fiduciary interactions

Trust and trustworthiness are key elements, both at the micro and macro level, in sustaining the working of modern economies and their institutions. However, despite its centrality, trust continues to be considered as a “conceptual bumblebee”, it works in practice but not in theory. In particular, its behavioural rationale still represents a puzzle for traditional rational choice theory and game theory. In this paper “trust responsiveness”, an alternative explanatory principle that can account for trustful and trustworthy behaviour, is proposed. Such principle assumes that people can be motivated to behave trustworthily by trustful actions. The paper discusses the philosophical roots, the historical development, as well as the relational nature of this principle as well as its theoretical implications.     

Eroding societal trust: a game-changer for EU policies and institutions?†

Trust is a fundamental condition for a fair and cooperative society. But what if trust collapses? This article is interested in the disrupting effects a further erosion or even collapse of trust could have for European Union (EU) policies and institutions. It is argued that a breakdown of trust could create serious risks, but also opportunities, and is therefore an important factor that the EU must consider when designing its future policies and strategies. To this end – by using a forward-looking and trend impact analysis approach – the article provides insights and options on how strategic political responses for the EU could look like to turn the trend around and again enhance trust in the European project. Empirically, it addresses issue and policy areas such as trust in political systems, justice, science, economic regulation, cyberspace, surveillance as well as ethnic and religious diversity.     

Group-based trust,trustworthiness and voluntary cooperation: Evidence from experimental and survey data in China

Trust, trustworthiness and cooperation are crucial in achieving social goals, and are thus essential components of social capital. This paper reports the results of a series of lab and artefactual field experiments carried out in Shanghai to evaluate some of the key indicators of social capital in China. The groups selected for the study are middle school and undergraduate university students and community residents. The experiments comprise two public goods games, a gambling game and a trust game. The overall level of trust is negatively related to age, although trusting behavior is also affected by other factors, such as risk-taking.     

Explicating trust and its relation to dialogue at a time of divided societies

Values, beliefs, opinions and attitudes on issues (such as religion, LGBTQ, immigration, etc.), and the proliferation of social media platforms have made society not only more diverse but also more divided. Competing and conflicting views and attitudes result in more schisms and disengagement. In addition, conflicts and disagreements on various issues also have resulted in a lack of trust and a reluctance of organizations and publics to engage in meaningful communication. As a result, developing trusting relationships by facilitating dialogues is significant. Trust has been an important construct in past research on organization-public relationships. However, the concept of trust has rarely been discussed in-depth in public relations literature. This special section of Public Relations Review, entitled Enhancing Dialogue and Trust in Diverse Societies, examines whether the current definitions of trust and its dimensions in the public relations literature are adequate in an organization-public dialogic communication setting.     

REPRESENTATIVE TRUST AND RECIPROCITY: PREVALENCE AND DETERMINANTS

This paper provides evidence about the determinants of trust and reciprocal inclinations, that is, a tendency for people to respond in kind to hostile or kind actions, in a representative setting. We investigate the prevalence of reciprocity in the population, the correlation between trust and positive and negative reciprocal inclinations within person, the individual determinants of reciprocity, and the relationship with psychological measures of personality. We find that most people state reciprocal inclinations, in particular in terms of positive reciprocity, as well as substantial heterogeneity in the degree of trust and reciprocity. Trust and positive reciprocity are only weakly correlated, while trust and negative reciprocity exhibit a negative correlation. In terms of determinants, being female and increasing age are associated with stronger positive and weaker negative reciprocal tendencies. Taller people are more positively reciprocal, but height has no impact on negative reciprocity. Psychological traits also affect trust and reciprocity. ( JEL D63, J3, J6)     

Trust in the Internet as an experience technology

Trust in the Internet and related information and communication technologies - 'cybertrust' - could be critical to the successful development of 'e-services', such as e-government, e-commerce, e-learning and democratic participation in the rapidly expanding online public sphere. This paper explores trust in cyberspace based on an analysis of data from an Oxford Internet Survey conducted by the Oxford Internet Institute using a multi-stage, national probability sample in Great Britain. The paper highlights various perspectives on the meaning of trust and draws on findings from the Oxford Internet Survey to explore and refine key social determinants of cybertrust. Evidence from this research provides fresh insights into the factors shaping trust in the Internet, arguing that cybertrust, defined as a confident expectation, is influenced by experience, defined operationally by several indicators of proximity to the Internet, in ways shaped by educational background. The potential for using these results to better understand the role of trust on Internet use is addressed, as well as the more indirect implications for reinforcing digital divides.     

Etablierung einer Vertrauenskultur zwischen Führungskräften und ihren Mitarbeitern/Mitarbeiterinnen

Trust is considered to be fundamental for satisfactory social relationships. In organizational systems, trust is also necessary, but sometimes neglected and underestimated. Considering young adults (millennials), trust and its power as a social resource seem to be highly relevant for the future: In public perception young adults show low involvement and commitment, for example in social or organizational assignments. But, participation and commitment are closely linked with the experience of trust. Authentic and fair behaviour as well as presenting oneself as a role model are crucial to promote a culture of trust between leaders and employees. To outline this, a leadership-model for promoting commitment and participation by trust actions is presented.     

Trust,Social Capital,and Intermediation Roles in Microfinance and Microenterprise Development

This study examines the role of trust and intermediation functions in microfinance and microenterprise development. Fifteen Self-help Groups (SHGs) were selected from three different locations in India for Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and in-depth personal discussions. The peer trust was found higher than the intermediation trust during the microfinance group formation as well as group operations. The level of intermediation trust was higher than the peer trust during microenterprise development. The entry level trust was cognitive in nature, and transformed to ‘affective peer trust’ and ‘affective intermediation trust’ at the operational level. Trust was found to be the causality of social capital in SHGs. Intermediation trust was higher for early adopters of entrepreneurship than that of the late adopters. In case of microentrepreneur, the cognitive intermediation trust was transformed to affective intermediation trust with the passage of time.     

Trust in complementary medicine: the case of cranial osteopathy

Trust has been seen as operating within situations in which an individual's ability to assess risk or probability is absent and yet they still choose to believe in something. The development of new sets of knowledge in modern societies raises interesting questions about how the public come to trust the ‘experts’ who practice them and there is a paucity of work which addresses how trust ‘happens’ in these new relationships. This paper uses the accounts of patients who use cranial osteopathy to discuss the bases of trust in complementary medicine. It is argued that the practitioner and their therapy is not the basis of patient trust. For the initial attendance the patient relies upon the accounts and credibility of other people (network trust). After this it is the phenomenological work of the patient, who strives to find meaning in the treatments they experience, which is essential to the development of trust relationships. The paper demonstrated that patients mobilise ideas and understandings which they are familiar with to understand the unfamiliar and that it is this process of seeking meaning which is central to the creation of trust.     

The evolution of interorganizational trust in cross‐sector collaborations: Two comparative cases from China

This study views interorganizational trust as a dynamic process and examines it in two cross‐sector collaborations in community development. Based on in‐depth case study, we conceptualize the evolution of interorganizational trust into four distinct stages: initial propensity, boundary spanning, diffusion and normalization. The findings show that sustainable cross‐sector collaboration requires the full evolution of interorganizational trust. The findings also highlight the importance of internal motivation and the participation of third parties. In addition, while formal rules contribute to rational trust, informal rules arising from interactive experiences can complement formal rules and promote emotional trust.     

SOCIAL ATOMISM, HOLISM, AND TRUST

The metatheoretical difference between social atomism and social holism is clarified by analysis of the generic necessity of trust. A theoretical approach to trust can be traced from Durkheim, Simmel, Parsons, and the recent work of Luhmann and Barber. Trust functions as a deep assumption underwriting social order and is not reducible to individual characteristics. Changes in trust alter social relationships. The study of power, exchange, family, and politics illustrates how trust constitutes social reality as emergent and holistic. This helps us understand the formation of interpersonal relationships, the difference between economic and social exchange, and the discrepancy between attitudes toward society and toward particular institutional actors.     

The second wave of globalisation and agrarian change in the Pacific Islands

The global agro-food complex is penetrating the most ‘isolated’ and ‘peripheral’ localities of the world. In the Pacific Islands, a second wave of globalisation is pulling a number of small island nations into the increasingly globalised neoliberal agricultural sector. Conscious of the under-analysis of globalisation in Southern agriculture in general, this article has three broad aims. Firstly, it contextualises and traces the evolution of the second wave of globalisation, compares it to the first, and discusses its impacts on the agricultural sector of the Pacific Islands. Secondly, it explores the local socio-economic and environmental impacts of the second wave through two primary research-based case studies in Tonga and Niue. Finally, it calls for a concerted critical research effort designed to uncover the workings of neoliberal agricultural globalisation in the region and suggests means of resisting its worst implications.