Examining a Climatoeconomic Contextualization of Generalized Social Trust Mediated by Uncertainty Avoidance

Abstract

Social science research has focused on polieconomic factors for generalized social trust. Yet psychological research has shown that ecological factors can influence cognition, mood, and behavior. Following Van de Vliert’s climatic demands-resources theory, I proposed the view of a climatoeconomic contextualization of generalized social trust. Specifically, I found that the interplay of thermal climates (harshness) and wealth (GDP per capita) was related to generalized social trust, mediated by uncertainty avoidance rather than other cultural dimensions such as individualism-collectivism, masculinity-femininity, and power distance. These findings render direct support to Hofstede’s hypothesis that societal cultures are first-stage outcomes of climatic factors and second-stage intermediaries between these climatic factors and the sociopsychological functioning of markets, organizations, groups, and individuals. They also provide important implications for trust theory and climatic demands-resources theory.