Trust in exchange relations as social capital: Exploratory study of informal freight transport

Abstract

As the philosopher Aristotle ascertained 2400 years past, human beings are by nature social creatures. Trust is a social norm that promotes the foundation of relationships among individuals, groups, and other components of a society. It is a by-product of religion, tradition, shared historical experience, and other types of cultural norms. Without trust, a country’s economy cannot perform well, because transaction costs would be too high. Through this study, we attempt to explore the reasons behind the dynamics of informal freight transport in Morocco under the paradox of the total absence of contracts and the increasing regulatory constraints of the sector. For this purpose, both individual interviews of the various informal transporters, and the interpretation methodology were used. The results reveal that the exchange relations of informal freight transport in Morocco, a priori non-contractual, are governed by a “social algorithm” based on interpersonal trust, in lieu of “blind” or “calculative” trust (Williamson, 1973), and which “the Daman” plays the role of a guarantor of the community order (Lkelma, Niya, etc.) rather than the judicial order (contracts, formality, etc.) (Fukuyama, 1995; Balambo & Livolsi, 2010).

Determinants of Performance of Village-Owned Enterprises in Improving Village Development Performance

“…In line with research conducted by (Ha et al, 2020), (JOO 2020), (Jung, 2020). (Sudharma Santosa et al, 2020), (Alfirdausi & Riyanto, 2020), (Aritenang,2021), (Muslikah, et al 2019), Haryono, et al, 2018, (Suranto & Hardianto 2019), (Kafabih, 2019), (Heny Urmila Dewi & Prawira D., 2019) and (Chafai, 2023), which states that social capital has an influence in various areas of people's lives, both in the world of work, organizations, and community life itself.…”

“…This is supported by several studies conducted by (Yeo et al, 2023), (Chen et al, 2023), (Gómez-Trigueros et al, 2021), (Hastriyandi & Munandar, 2018), (Wahdanial et al, 2023), (Fikri et al, 2022), (Mahmudi & Damayanti, 2020), and (Nurjaya et Apart from the factors above, to support the improvement of Village-owned Enterprisesperformance and village development, the role of social capital is also needed. (Chafai, 2023) states that humans are basically social creatures. Trust is a social norm that prioritizes the foundation of relationships between individuals, groups and other components of society.…”

Social capital in transactions: The role of economic and social trust in the specialty beef production system in Brazil

“…Saussier (2008, 2012) consider that when the institutional framework is weak, especially regarding enforcement, the use of informal devices between the parties is not the result of a choice but rather a consequence of the institutional and legal framework. In these cases, the importance of social capital to explain economic relationships is highlighted, as has been developed in studies in Sri Lanka (Priyanath and Premaratne, 2015), Ethiopia (Abbay et al, 2018;Gelaw et al, 2016;Tadesse and Kassie, 2017), Ghana (Lyon, 2000), Uganda (Heikkilä et al, 2016), India (Mungra and Yadav, 2022), Morocco (Chafai, 2023), South Africa (Thindisa and Urban, 2018), China (Li et al, 2023), and Brazil (Macedo, 2015;Pereira et al, 2022a;Santos Junior and Waquil, 2012).…”