Drivers of trust and trustworthiness

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of why people act trustworthily in anonymous non-repeated meetings where trustworthiness benefits the trustor and runs against the trustee’s material self-interest. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses a survey originally developed by Bicchieri et al. (2011). The survey makes it possible to explore whether trustworthiness has a normative element. Is there a norm of trustworthiness that inflicts punishment for disobedience? Findings The participants in the experiment strongly believe that most people will punish untrustworthy behavior, lending support to the idea that trustworthiness is norm driven. The data provide little evidence for a parallel norm of trust. Originality/value The theory of repeated games explains how trust can emerge among players in ongoing interactions. But why do people choose to trust others who they do not know in non-ongoing interactions? The results offer an explanation. When trustors are aware that trustworthiness is rooted in norms, they have reason to expect trustees to act trustworthily. Then, it makes sense to trust since trustors will benefit from their trusting.

A Study of Trust and Cooperation in the Nzoia River Basin Using a Water Policy Game

“…Most studies focus on understanding trust [18,25,26,[34][35][36][37][38], with insufficient research on trustworthiness and the relationship between trust, trustworthiness, and distrust [34]. Reiersen [34] (p. 1) states that it "is somewhat surprising given that trustworthiness is fundamental to trust." Hardin [16] explains that most of the trust literature barely mentions the term trustworthiness, "though implicitly much of it is primarily about trustworthiness."…”

“…Hardin [16] explains that most of the trust literature barely mentions the term trustworthiness, "though implicitly much of it is primarily about trustworthiness." Reiersen [34] (p. 1) adds that "It makes no sense to trust others if others are untrustworthy." Also, it is detrimental to the trustee to trust an untrustworthy person.…”

“…Also, it is detrimental to the trustee to trust an untrustworthy person. According to Reiersen [34] (p. 1) trust is based on the belief that the trustor can be entrusted not to abuse the trust shown. Furthermore, some models theorize that the trust-trustworthiness relationship is complementary and cyclical [27,39].…”

“…To increase trust amongst riparian governments that share a river basin, it is essential to understand trust elements and how they relate to one another [34] (p. 3). We seek to study trust and collaboration processes using a game environment.…”

“…Trust and Trustworthiness: Is the trust-trustworthiness relationship complementary [27,34,39], within the context of the Nzoia WeShareIt game? 3.…”