Focusing the mediating role of institutional trust: How does interpersonal trust promote organizational commitment?

Numerous organization scholars point out that trust is crucial for well-functioning organizations. However, trust in organizational settings could differ according to the objects of trust. This study compares two conceptually different models: main-effect model and mediation-effect model. The main-effect model assumes that both interpersonal trust and institutional trust promote organizational commitment independently, but the mediation-effect model assumes that institutional trust is cultivated by interpersonal trust and increases organizational commitment. The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) show that the mediation-effect model fits better than the main-effect model and that the structural coefficients of the mediation-effect model are neatly interpreted by social scientific studies of trust. This study's findings have two important implications: First, there seems to be sequential order between different types of trust in organizational settings. Second, interpersonal trust promotes organizational commitment only if it facilitates institutional trust, providing an explanation for the inconsistent findings of previous studies.     

Measuring social trust and trusting the measure

Decades of rigorous quantitative scholarship have generated a wealth of knowledge regarding the causes and consequences of crossnational variations in social trust. However, while some social science disciplines have made significant contributions to this conversation, others have largely failed to do so. The field of international relations, for example, has lagged behind in producing aggregate-level scholarship on social trust. This is surprising given that (1) trust influences public opinion and thereby the incentive structure for political leaders and (2) many peacebuilding efforts directly target the levels of trust in post-conflict settings. Country-level trust scholarship in international relations and the social sciences more generally is hampered by data scarcity. The main purpose of this article is to present a new publicly available data set on aggregate levels of social trust. Relying on a set of 19 widely accepted correlates, we construct a new cross-sectional measure of the concept that covers all countries from 1946 to 2010. We then perform a series of empirical tests establishing the validity of our measure. Finally, we offer a number of bivariate analyses to demonstrate the broad utility of our new variable for scholars in the social sciences.     

信任的本质及其文化

随着信任的研究越来越受重视,信任的含义也在不同的学科领域中越来越复杂。如果回到常理及其文化中来讨论信任,它所展现出来的特征可分为无约束机制的信任和有约束机制的信任,并在文化意义上导致信任地带的位移。在中国文化中,信任是人们在社会交往发生可疑时而形成的中间地带,可细分为放心关系和信任关系及无信任关系。其划分原因源自中西文化对人性及其社会依赖性的不同假定以及它们所构成的关系网络偏向或制度性偏向。由此,信任的本质是社会成员在面对社会不确定性和复杂性增加时体现出的对自己依赖对象所维持的时空性特征。以这种框架来重新处理以往有关中国社会信任研究中的争议和困惑,很多方面的问题可以得到合理的解释。     

Practices of activation in frontline interactions: Coercion,persuasion, and the role of trust in activation policies in Germany

Following Michael Lipsky's well‐known argument that policy is made in the daily encounters between street‐level bureaucracy and citizens, a growing body of research emphasizes that actors and organizations delivering social and labor‐market policy play a crucial role in welfare‐state politics. Using qualitative data collected at three local employment agencies in Germany, this article explores worker‐client relations as a crucial mechanism through which activation policies are translated into practice. The analysis investigates how caseworkers define their role and their relationships with clients. The findings show that it is essential for caseworkers to achieve client compliance. In such a context, building relationships of trust is a strategic instrument in overcoming possible barriers to co‐operation in the caseworker‐client interaction. Caseworkers develop strategies to create the impression of trustworthiness and to motivate both unemployed clients and employers to become trust‐givers in the caseworker‐client relation. While research has often stressed the dichotomy between disciplining and enabling elements of activation policies, our explorative study shows that persuasion and trust‐building are a further important dimension of the frontline delivery of activation policies. These strategies reflect the importance of emotional aspects of frontline work.     

We're All in This Together: Context, Contacts, and Social Trust in Canada

How do conditions of diversity and inequality affect the sense of solidarity with each other that is manifested as social trust? This article brings together the literatures on racial heterogeneity, inter-group contact and relative deprivation to test and enrich the existing theoretical understanding of trust. It explores the effects of city and neighborhood contexts, individual experiences of inter-group relations, and their moderating effects on social trust. Findings suggest that the influence of a city's level of ethnic/racial diversity and income inequality is conditioned by inter-group social ties and experiences of discrimination. By considering the characteristics of neighborhoods, racial diversity of cities no longer has any significant association with trust in others. However, income inequality at the city level interacts with experiences of discrimination to undermine trust. Public policies aimed at improving social cohesion would benefit from considering the joint impact of economic and social policies that regulate resource distribution and hence shape inter-group relations.     

Deliberate Trust and Intuitive Faith: A Dual‐Process Model of Reliance

Drawing on the dual process framework from social and cognitive psychology, this paper reconciles two distinct conceptualizations of trust prevalent in the literature: “rational” calculative and irrational “affective” or normative. After critically reviewing previous attempts at reconciliation between these distinctions, we argue that the notion of trust as “reliance” is the higher order category of which “deliberate trust” and “intuitive faith” are subtypes. Our revised approach problematizes the conflation of epistemic uncertainty with phenomenological uncertainty while providing sound footing for a key sociological insight: that reliance on the routine social order is both the cognitive default and based on substantial practical evidence. We develop two broad suggestions for future research from these implications: (1) sociological research should examine the role of intuitive faith—as opposed to deliberate trust—in late modern societies, and (2) analysts should challenge the role of deliberate trust as the “modal” form of reliance in contemporary research.     

Accountability as a Warrant for Trust: An Experiment on Sanctions and Justifications in a Trust Game

Accountability is present in many types of social relations; for example, the accountability of elected representatives to voters is the key characteristic of representative democracy. We distinguish between two institutional mechanisms of accountability, i.e., opportunity to punish and requirement of a justification, and examine the separate and combined effects of these mechanisms on individual behavior. For this purpose, we designed a decision-making experiment where subjects engage in a three-player trust game with two senders and one responder. We ask whether holding the responder accountable increases senders’ and responders’ contributions in a trust game. When restricting the analysis to the first round, the requirement of justification seems to have a positive impact on senders’ contributions. When the game is played repeatedly, the experience of previous rounds dominates the results and significant treatment effects are no longer seen. We also find that responders tend to justify their choices in terms of reciprocity, which is in line with observed behavior. Moreover, the treatment combining punishment and justification hinders justifications that appeal to pure self-interest.

     

权力的嵌入性分析——国有资产重组下的企业结盟

本文对企业行动者之间的权力关系、策略互动及其所嵌入的社会网络与制度环境提供了一个解释框架。文章运用组织决策学派的“权力”概念,对国有资产重组下的国有资产经营公司与民企联盟的结盟进行了分析。在 “嵌入性”概念的基础上,作者认为,作为结盟前提的权力嵌入于社会网络之中,并且嵌入于中国市场化改革与政体连续性的制度背景之中,因此给权力关系与结盟带来了不确定性。文章试图把“权力”带回企业结盟分析的中心,在理论上对格兰诺维特的社会网络嵌入与倪志伟的制度嵌入进行综合,提出应洞察行动者所嵌入的社会网络以及更为广泛的制度因素对企业行动者的影响。     

饮食社交对政治信任的侵蚀及差异分析：关系资本的“副作用”

本文使用2009年中国八城市“社会网络与职业经历”(JSNET)问卷调查数据,探讨饮食社交对政治信任的影响。实证分析结果表明,城镇居民的社交聚餐频率对政治信任各维度均有负向效应,且这种侵蚀效应在不同体制、不同性别、不同学历和不同地区的人群间具有显著差别。本文的研究结果表明,以“饭局”为途径来积累、维系和动员关系资本的过程,在特定的情境下往往伴随社会层面的消极影响,对政治信任带来“副作用”。     

A Social Relations Analysis of Children's Trust in Their Peers across the Early Years of School

Two hundred and five (103 female and 102 male) children enrolled in school years 1 and 2 in the UK (mean age 6 years 1 month at Time 1) were tested twice over a 1‐year period. The children reported the promise keeping and secret keeping behaviours of classmates (all peers and same‐gender peers) and provided friendship nominations (Time 2 only). Round robin social relations analyses for all peers and same‐gender peers revealed: (1) perceiver variance, demonstrating consistent individual differences in trust beliefs in peers; (2) target variance, demonstrating consistent individual differences in eliciting trust from peers; and, (3) dyadic reciprocity, demonstrating reciprocal trust between individuals. Replicability across measures, stability, and cross‐measure stability of these effects were found for all peers only. As hypothesized, the perceiver and target effects of trust were associated with the number of friendships. The findings support the conclusion that young children demonstrate multiple components of trust in dyadic relationships, which are associated with their social relationships.     

对宗教组织之信任的探索性研究——以上海数据为例

本文利用上海市的调查数据,从宗教归属、人口学变量、社会经济地位因素、社会信任、社会参与和其他机构信任等方面对宗教组织信任进行分析,了解人们对宗教组织信任的现状及影响因素,并对相关的研究进行回应。结果显示,与对其它机构的信任相比,民众对宗教组织的信任处于一个较低水平;宗教归属、社会信任、组织参与和对世俗机构的信任对宗教组织信任的影响最大;阶层、社会参与也有一定的影响;性别、年龄、受教育程度和政治面貌等无影响。     

Tracing wealth,cooperation and trust: A comparison of two great plains communities

This research examines the relationships between wealth, cooperation, and trust. Utilizing implications from the social capital literature and democratic theory, we found that trust directly affects patterns of socio-economic interactions, especially shopping. We also found that commuting was widespread and it created a rural sprawl deficit that affected trust. Specifically, the results indicated that trust of others in the community (generalized to a certain degree) tended to encourage people to shop more in town, thus contributing to the development of the community, even when controlling for commuting. Findings from this study suggest that further community level research will yield more specifics about how trust (and social capital) works to increase wealth in a community.     

“Crowding in” or “crowding out”? An examination of the impact of the welfare state on generalized social trust

Generalized social trust is correlated with increased levels of civic engagement, lower crime rates, and greater economic growth. Many scholars believe that equality provides the conditions in which social trust can flourish. Thus, welfare programs might be one way to generate social trust. However, the relationship between social spending and trust is contested: Some argue it is negative, while others argue it is positive. This study examined the effects of total social welfare expenditures on social trust in 18 OECD countries, holding constant individual characteristics, country characteristics, and country and year effects. Fixed effects analyses indicate that every additional percent of gross domestic product spent on social expenditures 5 years prior is associated with a 4.7 percent increased likelihood that respondents of that country will endorse trusting other people. Further testing for reverse causality found no significant association between trust and later social expenditures, supporting the claim that expenditures drive trust instead of the reverse.     

Trust, inequality and the market

This article examines, experimentally, whether inequality affects the social capital of trust in non-market and market settings. We consider three experimental treatments, one with equality, one with inequality but no knowledge of the income of other agents, and one with inequality and knowledge. Inequality, particularly when it is known, has a corrosive effect on trusting behaviours in this experiment. Agents appear to be less sensitive to known relative income differentials in markets than they are in the non-market settings, but trust in markets appears generally more vulnerable to the introduction of inequality than in the non-market setting.     

Reciprocity in Parent–Child Exchange and Life Satisfaction among the Elderly: A Cross-National Perspective

This study explores the role of intergenerational exchange relationships in the life satisfaction of a cross-national sample of older people. Specifically, it replicates and extends the study by Lee, Netzer, and Coward (1995) , which examined the effects of aid exchanged between generations—older parents and their adult children. Social exchange and equity theories serve as the theoretical frameworks for the present research. The current research is based on data collected in the OASIS cross-national five countries project from 1,703 respondents (75+) living in urban settings. The main results are that the capacity to be an active provider in exchange relations enhances elders' life satisfaction. Being mainly a recipient of help from adult children is related to a lower level of life satisfaction. Filial norms are negatively related to life satisfaction. The study also underscores the importance of the emotional component in intergenerational family relations to the well-being of the older population. Intergenerational family bonds reflect a diversity of forms related to individual, familial, and social structural characteristics. The research highlights the importance of reciprocity in intergenerational relations between older parents and their adult children.     

The disembedded digital economy: Social protection for new economy employment in China

This research focuses upon employment in the new economy, exploring labour protection and social protection in the digital age in China. Through an empirical survey conducted in three Chinese cities, social insurance and the labour rights of employees in the digital economic sector, such as gig employment, e-commerce, and various other forms of online employment, have been examined in-depth. This study reveals new regulatory loopholes in the digital labour market, which have substantially eroded the basis of social policy arrangements in China, “softening” participation in social insurance branches and compliance with labour regulations remarkably. Drawing upon the theoretical concepts of Polanyi on embeddedness and disembeddedness, we argue that the digital employment sector in China has been increasingly disembedded from social institutions and social control. The new configuration in the digital field of social policy requires novel conceptual models and institutional settings to cope with increasing social risks in virtual spaces.     

国家间信任研究的路径比较:从博弈论到社会网络分析

国家间信任是关乎合作与冲突的重要议题,对不确定的国际体系而言尤为重要。梳理现有的研究文献,笔者归纳出国家间信任分析的三种主路径,它们的思路存在较大差异:博弈论从理性选择角度分析信任关系对成本支出的改变,进而影响合作建立与维持;合法化机制一方面从强式制度主义出发解释制度结构对信任的制约,另一方面也从弱势规范意义上分析了信任与规范、身份的关系,它认为国家选择信任除了利益动机之外还有被社会承认的合法化需要;网络分析则关注社会关系如何孕育信任,"嵌入性"视角试图在宏观与微观分析之间建立"第三条道路"。梳理、评介不同的研究路径有助于促进国际信任研究的发展。     

差序格局下的宗教信仰和信任——基于中国十城市的经验数据

目前学界对宗教与信任关系的研究尚未达成一致意见。基于中国10个城市的调查数据,本研究分析了宗教信仰对社会化信任、一般化信任和差序格局结构中不同半径群体信任的影响。研究发现,1.宗教对信任尤其是社会化信任具有显著的正向影响;2.宗教对信任的影响随着差序格局半径的增加而增加;3.宗教对信任的作用机制主要是信仰效应而非组织效应,此发现部分解释了宗教与信任关系研究结论的矛盾性。     

超越嵌入性范式：金融社会学的起源、发展和新议题

金融处于当代社会生活的核心，可视为一种社会现象。自M.韦伯开始，古典社会学已论证了社会学研究经济和金融领域的正当性。随着美国新经济社会学的兴起，社会学学者在新经济社会学框架下，以“嵌入性”为理论起点，从社会结构和社会建构两个理论维度研究了金融现象。欧洲学者则挑战了美国新经济社会学的嵌入性范式，为我们提供了研究金融现象的新视角。在新技术和全球化背景下，社会学能从更多角度对金融领域展开研究。     

城镇居民普遍信任的区域间及区域内差异分析——基于“资源因素论”视角

本研究采用CGSS2003数据分析普遍信任的区域间及区域内的差异,发现中国城镇居民的普遍信任程度从高到低排序依次为东部、中部和西部。该发现从“资源因素论”的视角验证了普遍信任的程度差异与地区层面的宏观公共资源的相关性,微观层面的资源（包括个人拥有的资源和个人借用的资源）对地区内城镇居民的普遍信任有正向影响,这一影响会因宏观层面资源的不同而发生变化。