Institutional Trust: An Introduction.

Abstract

Trust in institutions—also known as institutional trust—is essential to a variety of matters, ranging from the functioning of democracy to assuring the effective operations of the courts to agreeing to cooperate with the police to deciding whether to patronize a business. Although trust in institutions is inextricably intertwined with trust between and among individuals, this volume focuses on trust in institutions, not trust in others per se. In this introductory chapter to the 62nd annual volume of the Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, we briefly discuss the various contexts in which trust is involved and set the stage for a more detailed and extensive treatment of trust theory and research by eight eminent scholars from the U.S. and beyond. In addition to general background on trust, this chapter provides a brief overview of the eight remaining chapters in the book.KeywordsInstitutional trustInterpersonal trustLegitimacyJusticeMotivationEmotionInterdisciplinary