Radius Of Trust Research Articles

Radius of trust: Gradient-based conceptualization and measurement

The radius of trust – the width of one's cooperation circle – has been widely cited by scholars from various disciplines as a key factor in the production and maintenance of public good. However, the vagueness in its conceptualization, measurement, and analysis obstructs efficient communication between empirical works, impeding the accumulation of scientific knowledge. This study develops a conceptualization of trust radius as the gradient in the level of trust in specific individuals across social ties of differing strengths. Along with this conceptualization, a new measurement scheme is constructed, which, relative to previous measures, is empirically easy-to-implement and theoretically valid in displaying individual-level variations in trust radius, highlighting trust radius' distinction from generalized trust and affinity with specific trust, and accommodating the differing tie strengths within one's trust network. Finally, this measurement scheme is well integrated in a multilevel modeling framework to study the determinants of trust radius, which is illustrated by two examples.

Modernizacja etnicznego kapitału ludzkiego – przypadek Romów

Investing in any form of capital will result in his development and modernization. To achieve this effect it is necessary to at least a basic level of capital. Romani human capital is very low. This is due to the Roma cultural specificities, which affects their socio-economic situation. Therefore, modernization of Roma human capital will be not performed at the same level as the modernization of mainstream society human capital. Attempts to modernize implemented under the Structural Funds do not bring the expected results. Strengthening Roma human capital through various forms of education and acquisition of skills and competences – even in conjunction with increasing the attractiveness of the Roma in the labor market – are inadequate. It is necessary to cover investments as their health, and housing. Such actions are carried out within the Roma framework strategy of the European Union. Due to the low level of effectiveness of these actions, we must pay attention to the Roma social capital, which, as in the case of each ethnic minority is much better developed than human capital. Despite its significant level, it remains internal capital without creating ties beyond their community. The modernization of social capital should lead to a positive impact on social and economic cohesion. The only way to accomplish this is to take the majority society effort to abandon discrimination. This may result in an increase the radius of social trust. The modernized social capital will be the basis for building a true Roma human capital.

Familism and War: The Radius of Trust as an Element of National Power

The field of strategic studies has evolved considerably, and the subfield of the study of power even more so. Most measures of military power, including the highly respected Correlates of War model, have focused on tangible assets such as the number of divisions, gross domestic product (GDP), access to natural resources, and population size. More recently, some analysts have begun to focus less on static data regarding personnel and equipment and more on state performance, that is, whether states are capable of converting these resources into the ability to project power. However, despite the large number of studies linking cultural factors to organizational performance, there is very little discussion of how culture affects this conversion process. One reason for this has been the lack of well-specified, empirically meaningful measures of culture. However, new research in a number of fields, particularly in cross-cultural psychology, has made a more empirically oriented cultural analysis of power possible. This paper examines the role of one of the most widely discussed phenomena in the cross-cultural psychology literature, the effects of familistic collectivism on organizational performance. Highly familistic cultures emphasize tightly knit family bonds over non-kin associations, an emphasis that tends to raise the marginal costs of carrying out large-scale operations. While previous military research has relied upon this construct, there has been almost no analysis of the effects of familism on relative combat effectiveness. Integrating an assessment of the effects of familism into an analysis of potential threats can reduce the probability of overestimating or underestimating the capabilities of competitors.

Vietnamese migrant networks in Taiwan: the curse and boon of social capital

ABSTRACTDrawing on ethnographic research on Vietnamese migrant workers in Taiwan, I seek to engage with and contribute to the scholarship on migrant networks and social capital. My research demonstrates that migrant networks are central to the social life of Vietnamese workers, offering not only a vital source of material and psychological support but also a platform where relationships are developed, sustained and contested. It reveals both productive and destructive potentials of social capital in situations where the migrant labourer becomes a disenfranchized underclass and their radius of trust is unsettled by physical displacement. Through this research I highlight the complexities and subjectivities in individual experiences of social capital and offer important insights into the various ways in which social networks are reinterpreted and reconfigured at the intersection of mobility, class and ethnicity within the context of Asia.

Social trust and angel investors' decisions: A multilevel analysis across nations

The decisions made by angel investors are embedded in and influenced by their institutional settings. This paper advances a multilevel model of the direct and indirect effects of social trust on individuals' angel-investment decisions. It is postulated that two dimensions of social trust, namely the level and radius, can enhance information transmission, collaboration, and sanctioning mechanisms within a society. Consequently, they facilitate angel investment and moderate the relationship between it and individual factors. A multilevel model of data from 191,907 individuals across 25 countries shows that individuals in countries with a high level of trust are more likely to make angel investments. Whereas both the level of trust and the radius of trust are found to heighten the positive relationship between an individual's perceived entrepreneurial skills and angel investment, it is interesting to note that these factors weaken the relationship between the perception of new business opportunities and angel investment. These direct and moderating effects are robust after controlling for wealth, cultural values, and other factors. This study contributes to the crossover between research on entrepreneurship and social-trust research.

Individualist–Collectivist Culture and Trust Radius

We apply a multilevel approach to examine empirically the nexus between individualist and collectivist culture on the one hand and people’s radius of trust on the other. People’s trust level (i.e., the intensity with which people trust other people) has been extensively studied. Increasingly, however, researchers are seeing a need to move beyond trust level and study trust radius (i.e., the width of the circle of people among whom a certain trust level exists) as the second quintessential component of trust. Results for up to 44,845 individuals from 36 countries show, first, that we can validly apply multilevel modeling to the study of trust radius. Second, consistent with prior theoretical expectations, individualism is associated with a broader trust radius, whereas collectivism is associated with a narrower trust radius. Considering the strength of the associations found, trust radius might be best understood as an inherent part of the individualism–collectivism cultural syndrome. The key contribution of this note is to reveal how exactly individualism–collectivism relates to trust, specifically its radius. In addition, the note demonstrates the feasibility of a multilevel approach to studying trust radius with much potential for follow-up research on this most vital trust construct.

Relationship building: the art, craft, and context for mobilizing the social capital necessary for systems change

Much has been written about the importance of relationship building and collaboration in community and policy change work. Yet, we know little about the process of successfully building relationships in this context. The Northeast Iowa Food and Fitness Initiative (FFI) is one of nine Kellogg-funded community change initiatives targeted at increasing access to healthy food and fitness activity. Using data collected from interviews of FFI leadership team members, we deconstruct the relationship-building process to focus on the iterative nature of social capital development and the impact of this process on generating additional assets in cultural, human, and political capital to create a spiraling-up process. The resulting merging of bonding and bridging social capital into generative social capital fashions resilient ties that span boundaries and expand the radius of trust.

Mary Ann Shadd Cary: Crafting Black Culture Through Empirical and Moral Arguments

This study examines the rhetoric of educator, journalist, and editor, Mary Ann Shadd Cary (October 9, 1823–June 5, 1893), who vigorously campaigned for Black fugitives' rights in Canada West during the 1850s. Drawing on the 1852 tract, Notes of Canada West, the author analyzes Cary's program of economic advancement and community-building for newly arriving former slaves in Canada. The author argues that Cary was the first influential North American Black female to use an empirical approach fortified by moral philosophy as a central argument, which functioned as an organizing principle. The author concludes that Cary's significance resides in her attempts to rearrange human knowledge at a pivotal time in Black history, her ability to shape Black behavior around a “radius of trust,” her understanding of the relationship between knowledge and the practical art of rhetoric, as well as her keen understanding of how differing notions of human progress compete for attention and potentially influence social policies in significant ways.

But Who Are Those “Most People” That Can Be Trusted? Evaluating the Radius of Trust Across 29 European Societies

As comparative research has repeatedly demonstrated that societies where people trust each other more easily are better able to generate a series of positive externalities, the study of generalized trust has taken pandemic forms. However, critical voices have warned that the levels of trust (the intensity to cooperate) are conceptually different from the radius of trust (with whom you would cooperate) (Fukuyama in Trust. The social virtues and the creation of prosperity. Free Press, New York, 1995). In this article, the classic trust question, i.e. whether “most people can be trusted or whether you cannot be too careful,” is brought in relation with tolerance towards cultural minorities, people with deviant behavior, and political extremists, as surveyed in the 2008 wave of the European Values Study. The results point to a hierarchy in social tolerance, furthermore indicating that while ‘trusters’ are more inclusive towards cultural minorities and people with deviant behavior, they are not substantially more tolerant towards extremist political voices compared to ‘distrusters’. Also, the radius of trust is context dependent, with especially economic modernization determining how wide the radius of trust is. We relate the findings of this study with recent research outcomes and implications for trust research.

Development and Women

This article examines the significance of trust in women’s collective efforts for development through self-help groups (SHGs). Community building efforts cannot ignore the importance of trust among group members and, between group members and organisational members. The article explores the manner and forms in which trust manifests itself during periods of formation, activity and defunct stages of SHGs in India. Personalised trust forms the centre of the radius of trust in SHGs and it gets extended to generalised and institutionalised trust. Development interventions for communities often aim to build social capital which is an important corollary of trust. Community and group development efforts aimed at building social capital must take into consideration the factors associated with building and generating trust.

Analysing the Radius of Trust in Rural Cameroon

Survey data have generally found trust to be much lower in Africa than in developed countries. This paper analyses the extent to which trust decreases with social distance, using data from a survey conducted in a village in rural Cameroon. Participants are asked a number of questions about trust in people with varying levels of social distance: fellow group members, fellow villagers, people from neighbouring villages and people in general. The results indicate that the level of trust diminishes as social distance (the radius of trust) increases. There is more trust in fellow group members than there is in other villagers, and more trust in fellow villagers than there is in those outside the village. I also analyse the correlation between the respondents’ characteristics and trust. A substantial part of the variation in levels of trust can be explained by observable individual characteristics. The main correlates of trust are education, whether the respondent is divorced and the number of years lived in the village. Divorced persons are significantly less trusting, while increases in the number of years lived in the village are associated with increases in the levels of trust. People who have completed primary education are significantly more trusting. In only one case (trust in fellow villagers) is age significantly correlated with trust, and its effect is negative. Income is significantly positively correlated with trust in fellow villagers and trust in people from neighbouring villages as well, but uncorrelated with trust in people in general. Respondents’ personal characteristics are insignificantly correlated with trust as social distance increases.

On the Relationship between Social Capital and Individualism–Collectivism

AbstractBoth social capital and individualism–collectivism (IC) have been, and still are, popular and well‐researched constructs in social sciences. Many theorists have argued that individualism poses a threat to social cohesion and communal association. Other researchers believe that growth of individuality, autonomy, and self‐sufficiency are necessary conditions for the development of social solidarity and cooperation. The present article reviews the studies on the relationship between social capital and IC, using different data and different measures. We conclude that countries with higher level of social capital (where people believe that most people can be trusted) are also more individualistic, emphasizing the importance of independence, personal accomplishments, and freedom to choose one’s own goals. In societies where trust is limited to the nuclear family or kinship alone, people have lower levels of social capital. Social capital increases as the radius of trust widens to encompass a larger number of people and social networks, bridging the ‘gap’ between the family and state.

Spheres of trust: An empirical analysis of the foundations of particularised and generalised trust

AbstractWhile the literature on trust has produced various conceptual models, there is also some confusion concerning different types of trust and their formation. In this article, three contested points are empirically clarified. First, are there really different forms of trust as much of the literature suggests? Second, if so, then how are these different types of trust related to each other? Third, what are the foundations of these different forms of trust? Relying on data from the German Socio‐Economic Panel, it is concluded that two types of trust can be empirically identified: an intimate trust in people close to the truster, as well as an abstract trust in people in general. Although these types of trust constitute separate dimensions, they are positively related to each other. Furthermore, this article challenges the widely held assumption that experiences are most relevant for particularised trust, while generalised trust is based on psychological predispositions. It is argued instead for a sphere‐specific logic of trust formation: It is the radius of experiences and predispositions that matters for the radius of trust. Finally, the analysis goes beyond the existing research by highlighting hitherto unknown conditions under which trust in familiar domains is more or less likely to extend to generalised trust.

Radius of Trust

Countries in which people believe that “most people can be trusted” and where citizens belong to a larger number of different voluntary associations are more individualistic, emphasizing the importance of independence and freedom to choose one's own goals. The present study examines the relationship between social capital and individualism/collectivism using a measure that distinguishes between familism and institutional collectivism. Familism correlated negatively with social capital, whereas institutional collectivism practices exhibited positive associations with social capital, especially with trust and participation in voluntary organizations such as church or religious organizations and labor unions. It is concluded that in societies where trust is limited to the nuclear family or kinship alone, people have lower levels of social capital. Social capital increases as the radius of trust widens to encompass a larger number of people and social networks among whom norms of generalized reciprocity are operative.

The Radius of Trust: Religion, Social Embeddedness and Trust in Strangers

Data from the 2002 Religion and Public Activism Survey were used to examine relationships among measures of religious orientation, embeddedness in social networks and the level of trust individuals direct toward others. Results from ordered logistic regression analysis demonstrate that Catholics and members of other denominations show significantly less trust in strangers than mainline Protestants, while older persons and those who are more trusting of acquaintances show greater trust. Although measures of personal religiosity and activity within a congregation show no statistically significant relationship to trust once important controls are taken into account, measures of embeddedness within secular social networks do.

TRUST AND DISTRUST: A SUITABLE THEME FOR HISTORIANS?

In the last twenty years or so, sociologists have shown that trust is an especially problematic but also especially important feature of modern societies, in which traditional and familiar social ties have been broken up and reconfigured in new patterns. On the whole, however, sociologists do not attempt a historical analysis, contenting themselves with the distinction between modern and pre-modern societies. With few exceptions, historians, who could give a more differentiated account, have not shown much interest in trust. Even those who deal with themes like religion, ethnicity, gender and the family tend to interpret them through power relationships rather than trust relationships. There are very good reasons, though, why historians should tackle the theme of trust. In this essay it is argued that the manner in which trust works in any given society is vital to the understanding of most social phenomena. An account is attempted of certain crucial junctures in European history when the radius of trust has broadened relatively rapidly. Finally the essay offers some suggestions as to why a perceived ‘crisis of trust’ has arisen, both in the contemporary western world and in the global economy, and what might be done about it.

‘Widening the radius of trust’: ethnographic explorations of trust and Indian business

Trust has latterly become an important focus of enquiry across the social sciences, and this article reflects critically upon the current literature on the basis of ethnographic research into the transactions of small companies in several sectors of Indian industry, and the reorganization that is taking place in Indian family business groups in the context of economic globalization. It is concluded that much of the argument about the increasing importance of trust in the context of globalization is misplaced, and that it serves an ideological function. The problem of business management in India is that of bringing about change in the institutional framework and in business behaviour in a context in which these changes confront a culture of ‘selective trust’ amongst groups of people in specific social networks.

Economic Policy and Latin American Culture: Is a Virtuous Circle Possible?

Economic development is positively related to the presence of favourable cultural attitudes (‘progressive values’): the radius of trust, the ethical system, the nature of the exercise of authority, and attitudes to work, savings, and innovation. This article explores the possibility of a virtuous circle linking economic policies and Latin American cultural attitudes, mostly using examples from Chile since the mid 1980s. The link from culture to development emerges from education, economic awareness and professional economics, and the traditional culture and spontaneous cultural change. The link from economic policy to culture is represented by developments in macroeconomics and the financial sector, industrial protection and free trade, and female participation in the labour market. The role of poverty and inequality, and the effectiveness of exhortation versus incentives, and of concentrating the effort on several specific groups, are also examined.