Abstract
Trust plays a critical role in all aspects of social functioning. In attempting to better understand trust cross culturally, a valid tool is essential. We conducted two studies to investigate the cross-cultural validity and utility of the Generalized Trust Scale (Yamagishi and Yamagishi 1994). In Study 1, the structural and convergent validity of the GTS was examined in a large Polish sample (N = 727). Our findings provided important preliminary evidence for the validity of this scale in this sample. Subsequently, Study 2 compared responses to the GTS from two culturally different countries: Poland (N = 203) and the United States (N = 230). The structure of the GTS remained invariant across these two cultures, and the level of trust was comparable. As expected Americans showed higher levels of happiness than Poles, yet the relationship between trust and happiness was positive and similar in strength for both countries. Our data provide preliminary support for the use of the GTS in cross-cultural comparisons; however, consideration of data at the item level may also be relevant and cross culturally useful.
Highlights
Trust is a core element of everyday interactions and is crucial for the macro and micro level of social functioning (Helliwell 2006; Putnam 2000)
The strength of the method factor loadings suggested that they accounted for a significant amount of measurement error
Two out of six items, i.e., Item 3 (“Most people trust a person if the person trusts them”) and 5 (“Most people trust others”), for which the initial strength of the factor loading was the weakest, showed the largest measurement error accounted for by the method factor
Summary
Trust is a core element of everyday interactions and is crucial for the macro and micro level of social functioning (Helliwell 2006; Putnam 2000). Studies conducted using this instrument have reported that trust was uncorrelated with behavior in economic situations, such as the prisoner’s dilemma (Evans and Revelle 2008; Rotter 1971) Another popular measure of trust is a single item from the World Values Survey (asking whether people are generally worth trusting or whether it is better to be careful). The validity of this instrument has been questioned because it is not clear how respondents interpret the question and whether the item measures trust or reflects the average willingness of society to engage in trustworthy behavior (Delhey et al 2011; Glaeser et al 2000; Johnson and Mislin 2011). These analyses were carried out in Mplus v. 7.2 (Muthen & Muthen, 2012)
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