Social trust as an individual characteristic or societal property?

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study aimed to predict individual social trust with both individual- and country-level characteristics. We hypothesized that individual social trust will be affected by human values at the individual level and cultural characteristics at the national level. The hypotheses were verified by a multilevel analysis of data from the World Values Survey Wave 5 (2005–2009) and Wave 6 (2010–2014) covering 64,548 individuals in 45 countries. It was found that among individual values, universalism, stimulation, power, and self-direction were positively related to individual social trust. Factors that were negatively associated were security and achievement. Among the cultural dimensions, individualism was positively related to social trust, whereas uncertainty avoidance was negatively associated. Among the respondents, those who were older, more educated, and in higher income brackets showed higher levels of social trust. The findings here indicate that social trust is not only an individual property but also a property of society.