Competence-based Trust Research Articles

Is the Effect of Trust on Risk Perceptions a Matter of Knowledge, Control, and Time? An Extension and Direct-Replication Attempt of Siegrist and Cvetkovich (2000)

The complexity of societal risks such as pandemics, artificial intelligence, and climate change may lead laypeople to rely on experts and authorities when evaluating these threats. While Siegrist and Cvetkovich showed that competence-based trust in authorities correlates with perceived societal risks and benefits only when people feel unknowledgeable, recent research has yielded mixed support for this foundational work. To address this discrepancy, we conducted a direct-replication study (preregistered; 1,070 participants, 33 risks, 35,310 observations). The results contradict the original findings. However, additional non-preregistered analyses indicate an alternative perspective aligning with compensatory control theory and the description-experience framework: experiences with insufficient personal control over a threat may amplify individuals’ dependency on powerful others for risk mitigation. These findings highlight the need to reevaluate how trust shapes risk perceptions. Recent societal and technological shifts might have heightened the desire for control compared to subjective knowledge in why people resort to trust.

Trusting the minister or trusting the mayor? Perceived competence and integrity of central and local Dutch institutions governing energy matters

Phasing out fossil fuels is inherent to sustainable energy transitions, but implementing energy policies related to phasing out processes involves risks that may affect their public support. Trust in institutions responsible for handling these risks is crucial for public acceptability, as it serves as a heuristic for risk assessment. In the current study, using the Dutch energy scenario, we examine how trust in institutions relates to public support for phasing out natural gas in the Netherlands. We build from previous research by examining this for the two types of trust most commonly distinguished in the literature, namely competence- and integrity-based trust, and for institutions operating at both national and local levels. Results showed that trust depends on the type of trust people evaluate and on the institution’s level of operation. Locally, institutions are seen as more honest and transparent, while nationally, they’re perceived as more skilled and having more knowledge. Further, integrity-based trust in both local and national institutions better explained public support for phasing out natural gas than competence-based trust. We discuss these results in terms of their implications for energy policy, suggesting policymakers consider trust dynamics and tailor strategies based on trust dimensions and institutional levels to facilitate phasing out processes.

The effect of social network structure on group anchoring bias

Decisions—whether made by individuals or groups—often involve estimating quantities, a process that is subject to anchoring bias (Tversky and Kahneman in Science 185: 1124–1131, 1974). Differences in susceptibility to anchoring bias between individuals and groups have been recently explored with the result that groups appear less biased than individuals (Meub and Proeger in Theor Decis 85:117–150, 2018). However, existing studies treat groups monolithically without taking into account their network structure—the pattern of relationships among members. The present paper investigates the effects of group social network structure on anchoring bias. Using a structured survey instrument, we gathered data on competence-based trust relationships among 264 students enrolled in a university degree program. An anchoring experiment was conducted in which some of the students made estimates as individuals, while others did so in groups of different structures. The findings provide initial evidence of differences in bias levels across variously structured groups as well as relative to individuals. Groups with highly centralized trust networks (where a single person owned everyone’s trust) showed more anchoring bias than dense groups (where everyone trusted everyone else) and sparse groups (where no one trusted any other member of the group) showed more bias than dense groups. In addition, despite previous research demonstrating groups are less susceptible than individuals to anchoring bias, this study shows a higher presence of bias in both our centralized groups and sparse groups when compared to individuals, suggesting that group structure might moderate the mitigating effect of groups on anchoring bias. The research has implications for organizational behavior and social network literature. Specifically, this study contributes to the debate on anchoring bias for group decisions by highlighting the significant role of social network structure. At the same time, it contributes to the literature on network structure and performance by providing initial evidence of how network structure affects anchoring bias susceptibility. Moreover, our study contributes to management practice by alerting managers to the dangers of centralized networks, suggesting that competence-based trust plays a vital role in the resistance to anchoring bias.

신뢰 수혜와 혁신행동

In current turbulent business environments, innovative behavior is critical to the long-term survival and growth of an organization. This study investigates the effect of being trusted by coworkers on an individual’s innovative behavior. Based on the social network perspective, we develop hypotheses regarding the effects of being trusted on employees’ innovative behavior in two dimensions of the trust relationship in a work team: competence-based trust from work-related abilities and compassion-based trust from emotional bonds between Coworkers. We also examine the moderating role of leader-member exchange differentiation (LMXD) as an upper-level context influencing trust networks and employees’ innovative behavior. For this, we collected data from 102 employees from 19 teams in 10 Korean firms and tested our research model using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). Our results reveal the positive effect of receiving competence-based trust on innovative behavior. However, contrary to our expectations, being trusted in compassion-based trust relationships has no significant effect on employees’ innovative behavior. Moreover, results of this study show different moderation effects of LMXD alongside the two types of trust. All in all, LMXD mitigates the positive effects of competence-based trust but strengthens the negative effects of compassion-based trust on employees’ innovative behavior. We go on to discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

VCAs as partners or servants? The effects of information sensitivity and anthropomorphism roles on privacy concerns

Advances in machine learning and natural language processing have driven the growing popularity of virtual conversational agents (VCAs). This anthropomorphic communication approach relies on user information sharing and real-time feedback from VCAs, and has raised privacy concerns while affecting various social interactions and relationships. Previous research on reducing user privacy concerns has mainly focused on user information mining, sensitive user information requests and privacy policies, while little is known about the anthropomorphic roles of partners and servants at the human-machine social hierarchy level. Therefore, this study, based on human-computer interaction (service) anthropomorphism at social level, develops a framework to investigate the impact of information sensitivity and VCAs' anthropomorphic roles, including partner and servant, on users' privacy concerns, as well as the mediating effects of competence- and integrity-based trust. The results show that when highly sensitive information is requested, user privacy concerns are greater for a partner VCA than a servant VCA, and vice-versa. Meanwhile, when a VCA requests highly sensitive information, integrity-based trust mediates the relationship between servant VCAs and privacy concerns, and when a VCA requests low-sensitivity information, competence-based trust mediates the same relationship. These insights provide actionable implications for managers.

Development of business-to-business relationships in turbulent environments

This research examines business relationship structure, formation, development, and maintenance where the socio-political and economic environment for both exchange partners is highly turbulent. Based on multiple case-study data from 33 firms located in the Middle East, we find that turbulent environments create perceptions of uncertainty, dependence, vulnerability, urgency, and crises, leading to the formation of interimistic relationships different from those found within non-turbulent environments. These relationships are characterised by a constant search for new partners and the maintenance of a diverse portfolio of relationships. Relationships typically develop rapidly comprising three phases where a unique dynamic and structure is apparent. Dominant relationship characteristics include competence-based trust alongside control, high levels of instantaneous commitment, informal and rapid adaptation, frequent informal communication, and significant and ongoing efforts at strengthening social bonds with existing and potential partners.

Opportunism still remained alive: conditional limits of trust and contract in software projects

PurposeBased on a survey study of 138 software buyers in Turkey, this study examines conditional indirect effects of requirements uncertainty on supplier opportunism where buyer dependence, a proxy for relation-specific investments, undertakes a mediator role. The authors consider a two-level moderation effect of trust and contract in buyer–supplier relationships throughout the software project lifecycle.Design/methodology/approachA survey-based empirical study was conducted, and conditional process analyses were run using PROCESS macro in SPSS. The present study tests a two-stage moderated mediation model in which competence-based trust with a detailed contract setting moderates the mediational path from requirements uncertainty to buyer dependence.FindingsThe data obtained from the buyer side in the Turkish software industry showed that a relationship in which the buyer is structurally dependent begins at a high level of trust. On the other hand, the authors found that contractual rigidity fosters supplier opportunism ex-post in evolving process of the relationship.Originality/valueThis study contributes to project management literature by testing a two-level moderation effect of governance and the mediator role of buyer dependence in the relationship between requirements uncertainty and supplier opportunism. Moving differently from the previous studies, this study integrates contributions of both economic perspectives, such as resource dependence theory and transaction cost analysis, and relational perspectives into the information processing view.

Do accounting disclosures help or hinder individual donors’ trust repair after negative events?

PurposeThis study aims to examine whether and how voluntary accounting disclosures can repair individual donors’ trust in a charity after negative events.Design/methodology/approachThe authors adopt a qualitative research approach and conduct 32 semi-structured interviews with active Australian individual donors, with a hypothetical vignette design. Hypothetical negative events and corresponding accounting disclosures are presented to participants during interviews.FindingsThree types of individual donors are identified based on their decision-making patterns after negative events and primary trust relations with a charity-reasoned donor (giving-decision based on their analysis of the situation, competence-based trust), generalist donors (giving-decision based on trust in the charitable sector, institution-based trust) and emotional donors (giving-decision based on feelings and emotions about the charity, integrity-based trust). The research suggests that accounting disclosures can repair trust damage for reasoned donors and support institution-based trust for generalist donors, but do not seem able to repair trust damage for emotional donors and can potentially damage trust further.Practical implicationsOverall, the findings suggest that a one-size-fits-all approach to communicating with individual donors after negative events is not likely to be very effective in repairing trust. Instead, charities may need to adapt disclosures to their different types of individual donors.Originality/valueWhile prior accounting studies have largely focussed on how charity managers themselves grapple with accountability or how negative events impact charitable donations, the authors demonstrate how accounting disclosures can play different roles in the trust-repairing process for different types of individual donors.

Risk-benefit perceptions, preferences for solutions, and gaining trust: Listening to New Jersey's Atlantic Ocean port communities.

We designed a survey to measure public preferences for management actions at ports that would reduce negative risk perceptions, increase competence-based trust, and overall provide port managers with opportunities to build communication channels with surrounding populations. A total of 511 people who lived in a 45-square mile area of New Jersey containing over 300,000 people and a dozen large and small ports responded to solutions that offered independent science support, provided ongoing public health surveillance, and economic assistance for local communities. Environmental health concerns about air, noise, fires, port security, and protection against climate-related impacts were major correlates of these preferences. Yet many residents recognized economic benefits associated with nearby ports and many either trusted port management or were neutral and felt not well informed. Those who had a personal or family connection to the port were stronger port supporters. The most important finding and challenge for port managers is building ongoing relationships with the majority of nearby residents who are not aware of port activities, which presents an opportunity for increasing trust through proactive outreach and listening to nearby community representatives.

The role of trust in public acceptability of energy projects: Integrity versus competence

Public acceptability of energy projects depends on people’s trust in agents responsible for those projects. We examined to what extent different dimensions of trust, notably integrity- and competence-based trust, are associated with public acceptability of real ongoing energy projects associated with acute risks and other consequences. A series of questionnaire studies in the Netherlands revealed that both integrity- and competence-based trust were positively associated with public acceptability of natural gas extraction which causes earthquakes in the region. Yet, integrity-based trust was more strongly and consistently associated with public acceptability of the natural gas extraction compared to competence-based trust. The findings were rather consistent across four different measurement phases. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.

Social Networks and Problem-solving in the Context of Biopharmaceutical Research and Development

Problem-solving is a vital aspect of scientific innovation. It is especially important in the biopharmaceutical field which, despite its innovative reputation, faces high project failure rates. To cope with research obstacles, these organizations utilize an evolving matrix structure with structured turnover of cross-functional (interdisciplinary) research teams. Problem-solving becomes social and relies on scientists’ ability to activate network contacts. What kind of social network contact facilitates problem-solving? Two different theoretical perspectives set different expectations. The needs perspective suggests specific types of resources are useful at different problem-solving phases. Different types of resources are locked into different types of social network ties. As problem-solving progresses and the required resources change, profiles of network contacts change. Turnover should be greatest between problem-identification, which calls for interpersonal support and familiarity, and problem-understanding, which calls for new knowledge and formal authority. In contrast, what I call the strong core perspective posits a stable core of multi-purpose network contacts. In terms of the types of network contacts, the needs perspective expects problem-solving phases to be independent; the strong core perspective expects path dependence. To explore network contact characteristics associated problem-solving phases and test for path dependence, I surveyed members of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, the largest pharmaceutical professional organization, about the contacts they utilized while dealing with the most serious research obstacle they encountered in the past year and which contacts were useful for identification and understanding. A multi-level path model copes with the nested data structure and tests for path-dependence. Results support the strong core perspective; strong path dependence indicates that scientists utilize contacts associated with strong tie strength and competence-based trust for both problem-identification and problem-understanding. Scientists form stable sets of social contacts during nascent problem-solving phases.

Enforcement against contract violation in Chinese construction projects: impacts of trust and perceived intentionality

Violations happen frequently in construction projects due to opportunistic intentions and/or the lack of awareness of obligations and/or honest attempts to react to unforeseen circumstances. Dealing with contract violations plays an important role in managing projects. The aim of the research is to investigate the impact of trust, analyzed in terms of the goodwill-based and competence-based trust, on both contract and social enforcement after a contract violation. A questionnaire survey, partially based on semi-structured interviews, was used for data collection. All the data is from the Chinese construction industry since it provides a fertile context to explore the research questions. The results show that: 1) reputation is used as social enforcement in practice and the severity of it is reflected by the scope of the disclosure, 2) the two dimensions of trust have opposite influences on the severity of contract and social enforcement via different mediating effects of perceived intentionality. Specifically, goodwill-based trust reduces the severity of enforcement via decreasing perceived intentionality, while competence-based trust increases the severity of enforcement by increasing perceived intentionality. A comprehensive and nuanced understanding for managing contract violation is generated in this research, which will help project managers to manage the contract violation and the interfirm relationships more effectively.

Social Facilitators of Specialist Knowledge Dispersion in the Digital Era

The digital revolution has triggered disproportions resulting from unequal access to knowledge and various related skills, because the constituting new civilization is based on specific, high-context, and personalized professional knowledge. In response to these dependencies, and in line with the sustainability paradigm, the issue of diffusion of knowledge, especially of the professional type, is of particular importance in eliminating the increasing digital inequalities. Therefore, the main challenge is to stimulate the free dispersion of intellectual workers’ knowledge. Their openness and commitment, devoid of opportunistic and knowledge-flow restraining attitudes, are prerequisites for the development of a sustainable society (synonymous with Civilization 5.0 or Humanity 5.0). The article endeavors to verify trust as the leading factor of effective specialist knowledge exchange. Its purpose is to analyze and diagnose the components, enablers, and types of trust that affect the diffusion of specific forms of professional knowledge in different groups of organizational stakeholders treated as knowledge agents. Systematic scientific literature analysis, expert evaluation, and structured questionnaires were used to develop and verify the hypotheses. Direct semistructured individual interviews, focus-group online interviews, computer-assisted telephone interviews, and computer-assisted web interviews were also applied in the paper. The research results confirmed the assumption that reliability-based trust, built on competence-based trust and reinforced by benevolence-based trust, is the foundation of the exchange of professional knowledge. It also supported the hypotheses that this process depends on the group of knowledge agents, the dominant form of trust, as well as its enhancers and types of exchanged knowledge. Conducted explorations constitute a theoretical and practical contribution to the subject of professional knowledge exchange. They fill the research gap regarding vehicles of trust as a factor of specialist knowledge diffusion and provide general, practical guidelines in terms of shaping individual components of competence-, benevolence-, and reliability-based trust due to the type of transferred knowledge and the group of knowledge agents involved in its circulation.

Trust in the Diffusion of Professional Knowledge

Purpose: The main objective of the study is to indicate the role of trust in the processes of knowledge diffusion of IT professionals. This includes the identification of individual types and components of trust impacting the knowledge exchange between intellectual workers, as seen from the perspective of knowledge agent groups involved in its circulation, and in sub-processes constituting the transfer of knowledge, as well as in generation of specialists. Design/Methodology/Approach: The procedure for obtaining empirical data consisted of three stages: the direct semi-structured individual interview, focus group online interviews (FIGO), computer assisted telephone interview (CATI) and computer-assisted web interview (CAWI). The hypotheses were tested with a test of significance for Spearman’s rank-order correlation coefficient and the Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test. Findings: Trust is a factor in knowledge diffusion among intellectual workers and its importance depends on the groups of knowledge agents participating in it. Trust is most important in the exchange of knowledge among professionals, then in the circulation of knowledge between specialists and co-operators, and the least important – in the dispersion of knowledge between knowledge workers and the organization's personnel. Regardless of the group participating in the circulation of knowledge, the foundation of trust is competence-based trust, supported by benevolence-based trust. Practical Implications: The presented considerations provide specific indications as to which components of trust to develop due to the sub process of knowledge diffusion, and knowledge agents involved in the circulation. Originality/Value: This study's main contribution is filling the existing research gap regarding the impact of trust on the flow of intellectual workers’ knowledge. The work has theoretical and practical contribution to research on the diffusion of professional knowledge. It organizes the theory and formulates practical guidelines for the formation of trust as a factor of knowledge dispersion.

The Conditional Limitation of Relational Governance: The Moderating Role of Project Complexity

Relational governance is generally concerned with the framework of project governance. However, this governance still has its limitations, which vary depending on contextual factors. Using transaction cost economics theory, this study considers project complexity as the moderator in studying the influence of trust as the most representative factor of relational governance in project performance. Empirical analysis with 302 owners and general contractors as a sample reveals that trust can effectively improve project performance and has a negative correlation with opportunism. The influence path of “trust–opportunism–project performance” is emphasized. The test of moderating effects shows that high project complexity increases the governance effectiveness of competence-based trust on project performance but weakens the governance effectiveness of goodwill-based trust on project performance. At the same time, high project complexity increases the governance effectiveness of goodwill-based trust on opportunism but weakens the governance effectiveness of competence-based trust on opportunism. The conclusion of this work can be used as a reference for the rational application of relational governance factors to various complex projects. This research also provides important inspiration for selecting appropriate relational governance directions to enhance project performance.

Effects of competence- and integrity-based trust on public acceptability of renewable energy projects in China and the Netherlands

Acceptability of renewable energy projects depends on the trust people have in agents responsible for those projects. Two dimensions of trust are relevant in this respect: competence-based and integrity-based trust. Yet, the unique and interaction effects of these two dimensions of trust on project acceptability are not well understood. We conducted two experimental studies to test these effects in China and the Netherlands. As expected, higher integrity-based trust in responsible agents led to higher project acceptability in both countries. Notably, these effects were independent of the level of competence-based trust. Competence-based trust enhanced project acceptability only in China and only when integrity-based trust was low. Mediation analyses further showed that (part of) the effects of both dimensions of trust on project acceptability could be explained by people's perceptions of how the decisions were made, in both countries. Results suggest that integrity-based trust has a more profound effect on project acceptability.

Trust in Islamic Business-to-Business Relationships: Evidence from Indonesia

We explore the role of trust in Islamic culture in business to business relationship by exploring the link between bank managers’ trust in business customers and their financing decision. In line with our expectations based on the fact that Islamic culture is characterized by a collectivistic approach, weak rule of law, and clan-based social structure, we find that value-based trust is more important than competence-based trust. Moreover, we find that these results are amplified in the case of small organizations. These results support the argument that business relationships in Islamic culture ground more on principles, values, norms that a partner bring into the relationship than in its business skills. Our results are robust to endogeneity and multilevel issues.

Repairing Individual Trust in Organizational Setting: The Mediating and Moderating Role of Benevolence and Competence Based

Introduction: Trust is a social construct that is present in the day-to-day routine of humans negative events such as product failure, revelations of corrupt practices, and unfulfilled promises could distort trusting relationships, develop negative future expectations, and in due course lead to trust violations. To maintain or restore the resultant loss of trust, organizations must examine and understand how trust was violated in the first place since different means of damaged trust are likely to require different reparative responses. Objectives: This study investigates how individual trust is repaired in an organization using apology and justification as means of repairing competence -based and benevolence-based trust violations. Study Design: Using a medical practitioner working in a private medical foundation called Save the Child F oundation, this research adopts a quantitative survey methodology using self-administered questionnaires to collect data from 304 patients and workers from a fictitious medical hospital in Cameroon. Hypothesis testing was carried out using structural equation modeling and regression analyses. Results: Through a scenario questionnaire survey, the study provided support for all of the hypotheses. Hypotheses 1 and 3 focused on the strategies of repairing trust. The result shows that benevolence had a mediating effect on apology, justification and trust repair. With the help of benevolence, medical organizations can easily accept to re-engage with individuals’ doctors (John Benson) after trust violation. This shows that apology and justification are a good combination factor that can be used for repairing individual trust in organizations. More also, this study shows that the verification of Hypotheses 2 and 4 confirmed that competence-based trust had an important moderating effect on the positive relationship between benevolence-based trust and trust repair. In this case, competence could be regarded as a determining factor of repairing trust that has been violated. Key words: Trust, Trust Repair, Competence, Benevolence, Justification, Apology DOI : 10.7176/JMCR/63-05 Publication date: December 31 st 2019

Investors’ trust and financial participation: Latent difficulty measurement

This study uses trust theory and the Rasch measurement method to identify the latent diversification difficulties for Taiwanese individual investors. In terms of benevolence-based trust, investors are most doubtful of the portfolio choices of neighbors and friends, whereas they are least doubtful of workplace retirement plan as well as listed and well-known companies. In terms of competence-based trust, investors are most doubtful of information accuracy and access, whereas they are least doubtful of investment product familiarity and information sources. Female investors significantly distrust their social network; by contrast, married investors in their mid-30s and with lower education significantly distrust financial intermediaries. In terms of income level, it insignificantly influences the benevolence- and competence-based trust difficulties of investors. Investors in the northern region of Taiwan benefit the most from financial interaction and significantly put more benevolence-based trust and competence-based trust compared with investors in the southern and central regions, respectively. Investment experiences insignificantly influence the development of trust; nevertheless, investors experience more difficulty in trusting their social network in terms of benevolence-based trust than in trusting financial intermediaries in terms of competence-based trust.

Interpersonal trust and employee knowledge sharing behavior

PurposeThe main purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of benevolence-based, competence-based and integrity-based trust in peers on the employees’ voluntary knowledge contribution and knowledge seeking with them. In addition, this study aims to explore how engaging in knowledge-contribution and knowledge-seeking behavior with peers influences an individual’s creative performance at work.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire-based survey was used and data were collected from 401 professionals working in information technology companies. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses.FindingsBenevolence-based trust and competence-based trust positively influence the extent to which individuals voluntarily engage in knowledge contribution and knowledge seeking with peers. Contrary to expectations, integrity-based trust has a negative effect on knowledge-seeking behavior at workplace. The results also provide evidence for a significant positive relationship between both types of knowledge sharing behavior and employees’ creative performance.Originality/valueThe present study differs from existing studies by offering a theoretical model that integrates different types of knowledge sharing, its antecedents and the differential impact on employee creativity. The model incorporates the knowledge-seeking dimension of individual knowledge sharing behavior, which has received relatively less attention in extant literature, and provides a conceptual comparison of different behavioral contexts in a single study. While prior studies have predominantly explored the antecedents of knowledge sharing, this study is among the few that have simultaneously looked into the outcomes of knowledge sharing at individual level.