Trust-building Strategies Research Articles

Developing Interpersonal Trust Between Service Users and Professionals in Integrated Services: Compensating for Latent Distrust, Vulnerabilities and Uncertainty Shaped by Organisational Context.

Introduction:Studies show a need for trust between stakeholders in integrated services. However, few studies have investigated how trust develops between stakeholders on a micro-level. In a Danish intersectoral intervention for persons on sick leave due to common mental disorders, we explored why trust is needed and how trust is developed between micro-level stakeholders.Methodology:The qualitative study was based on 12 observations of inter-organisational meetings, 16 interviews with service users, 24 interviews with health care professionals and employment consultants, and 8 interviews with supervisors. The analysis was guided by the theoretical concepts (dis-) trust, vulnerability and uncertainty.Results:Latent distrust between involved organisations, and vulnerabilities and uncertainties related to employment consultants’ statutory power over service users caused a perceived need for interpersonal trust. Time to establish knowledge-based relationships, healthcare professionals’ caring approach, and creating a feeling of sharing interests were compensating trust-building strategies that were often regarded as positive.Discussion and conclusion:Trust in personal relationships between stakeholders appeared to compensate for contextually shaped distrust, vulnerability and uncertainty. Identifying latent distrust, vulnerabilities, uncertainties, and power structures might be key to improving trust-building strategies in a specific context. The time-consuming process of trust-building between micro-level stakeholders should be supported structurally.

Collaboration strategy selection in BIM-enabled construction projects: a perspective through typical collaboration profiles

PurposeCollaboration is essential to BIM-enabled construction projects (BECPs). To facilitate collaboration, various strategies have been proposed. Usually, project team adopts single collaboration strategy for convenience. However, BIM-based collaboration is rather dynamic and exposed to a lot of barriers and risks, which easily changes collaboration conditions among partners. Therefore, better understanding of collaboration conditions in BECPs is crucial to develop flexible and suitable strategies. To fill in the gap, this study intends to identify typical collaboration profiles in BECPs and develop a profile-oriented strategy selection framework.Design/methodology/approachThis study establishes a six-dimensional collaborative behavior matric based on a comprehensive literature review to profile collaboration. Then a questionnaire survey is conducted to collect the collaboration data from 162 BECPs in China. Finally, latent profile analysis (LPA) is utilized to identify the typical collaboration profiles in BECPs.FindingsThrough LPA, four profiles are identified, including restricted collaboration profile, smarmy collaboration profile, intuitive collaboration profile, and modest collaboration profile. A profile-oriented strategy selection framework is also established to match strategies with collaboration profiles. Two major categories of strategies are proposed to promote these collaboration profiles including trust building and elevating strategies and collaborative behaviors facilitating strategies.Research limitations/implicationsThese identified profiles can provide an insightful understanding on the diversified collaboration conditions in BECPs.Practical implicationsThe profile-oriented strategy selection framework will help managers develop strategies flexibly to promote collaboration in BECPs.Originality/valueThis study validates four typical collaboration profiles in BECPs. Moreover, a profile-oriented strategy selection framework is also established for collaboration facilitation in BECPs.

\u201cSaint Google, now we have information!\u201d: a qualitative study on narratives of trust and attitudes towards maternal vaccination in Mexico City and Toluca

BackgroundMaternal vaccination is key to decreasing maternal and infant mortality globally. Yet perceptions about maternal vaccines and immunization among pregnant women are often understudied, particularly in low- and middle- income countries. This qualitative study explored trust, views, and attitudes towards maternal immunization among pregnant women in Mexico. A total of 54 women from Mexico City and Toluca participated in the in-depth interviews and focus groups. We explored participants’ experiences with maternal vaccination, as well as how they navigated the health system, searched for information, and made decisions around maternal immunization.ResultsOur findings point to issues around access and quality of maternal healthcare, including immunizations services. While healthcare professionals were recognized for their expertise, participants reported not receiving enough information to make informed decisions and used online search engines and digital media to obtain more information about maternal healthcare. Some participants held strong doubts over the benefits of vaccination and were hesitant about the safety and efficacy of maternal vaccines. These concerns were also shared by pregnant women who had been vaccinated. Some participants disclosed low levels of trust in government and vaccination campaigns.ConclusionPregnant women, soon to be parents and making vaccination decisions for their child, constitute an important target group for policymakers seeking optimal maternal as well as childhood immunization coverage. Our findings highlight the importance of targeted communication, trust-building and engagement strategies to strengthen confidence in immunization amongst this group.

“Listening Literacies” as Keys to Rebuilding Trust in Journalism: A Typology for a Changing News Audience

ABSTRACT Using in-depth interviews and textual analyses of trust-building projects as case studies, this research explores the links between trust and news literacy. The major contribution includes a contextualized definition and formal typology for the literacies to come out of these initiatives and programs, which are well-funded by foundations, technology companies and others. In these trust-building strategies, we are asked to reimagine who is responsible for information literacy so that mainstream journalism can be revitalized. Four dimensions of news literacy for trust-building in public information exchange emerged from this dataset: civic consumption, amateur (co-)production (sharing), professional information production (newsrooms), and algorithms/technology. We find that the notion of a “listening literacy” within these strategies has application for not only K-12 schools, universities and “regular” people, but also for journalists and media platforms to restore trust in accurate information.

The Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic and the Lockdown on the Health and Living Conditions of Undocumented Migrants and Migrants Undergoing Legal Status Regularization.

Introduction: Undocumented migrants are at high risk of adverse consequences during crises because of a lack of access to essential securities and sources of support. This study aims to describe the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the health and living circumstances of precarious migrants in Switzerland and to assess whether those undergoing legal status regularization fared better than undocumented migrants.Materials and methods: This cross-sectional mixed methods study was conducted during the COVID-19 lockdown in April–May 2020. Undocumented and recently regularized migrants taking part in an ongoing cohort study were asked to respond to an online questionnaire. A subsample was selected to undergo semi-directed phone interviews.Results: Overall, 117 of the 379 (30.9%) cohort study participants responded to the questionnaire. Seventeen interviews were conducted. Migrants faced cumulative and rapidly progressive difficulties in essential life domains. As a consequence, they showed high prevalence of exposure to COVID-19, poor mental health along with frequent avoidance of health care. Moreover, the loss of working hours and the related income overlapped with frequent food and housing insecurity. Around one participant in four had experienced hunger. Despite these unmet needs, half of the participants had not sought external assistance for reasons that differ by legal status. Both groups felt that seeking assistance might represent a threat for the renewal or a future application for a residency permit. While documented migrants were less severely affected in some domains by having accumulated more reserves previously, they also frequently renounced to sources of support.Conclusions: The cumulated difficulties faced by migrants in this period of crisis and their limited search for assistance highlight the need to implement trust-building strategies to bridge the access gap to sources of support along with policies protecting them against the rapid loss of income, the risk of losing their residency permit and the exposure to multi-fold insecurities.

Individual disaster communication in the Latinx community after Hurricane Harvey: The role of disaster exposure, perceived discrimination stress, and social trust

ABSTRACT This study examined how socio-cultural factors explain the relationship between hurricane exposure and frequency of individual disaster communication among Latinx individuals in Texas communities impacted by Hurricane Harvey. Participants included 397 Latinx residents in nine Texas counties that were most impacted by Hurricane Harvey. Through structural equation modeling, results indicated that perceived discrimination stress mediates the relationship between Hurricane Harvey exposure and individual disaster communication, whereas social distrust plays a disruptive role. Overall, the results (a) identify the individual and inter-related influence of stress and trust factors on the seeking and sharing of information within Latinx disaster communication ecologies, and (b) emphasize the importance of trust-building and storytelling strategies to engage the Latinx community following disasters.

The role of IT practices in facilitating relational and trust capital for superior innovation performance: the case of Taiwanese companies

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore the moderating role of information technology (IT) practices in the increase of organizational capacity for generating innovation performance from its relational (internal and external) capital and trust capital.Design/methodology/approachSurvey data has been collected from 102 publicly listed enterprises in Taiwan and is analysed by using symmetric structural equation modelling–partial least squares (SEM–PLS) and asymmetric fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) techniques.FindingsThe findings derived from SEM–PLS show that internal relationships and trust embedded in firms' relationships play a significant role in the innovation performance of Taiwanese enterprises, and reveal a more closed approach to innovation. The results also confirm the important role of IT advancement in amplifying the effect of internal and external relationships and trust formation on innovation performance. One more interesting note, the integration of fsQCA demonstrates several configurations that lead to superior innovation performance.Research limitations/implicationsThe study was limited to Taiwanese companies with at least 200 employees. It might well be that the economically significant small business sector has distinct relationships with stakeholders, trust building strategies and IT practices, and that innovation performance depends on other macroeconomic effects. This study combines symmetric (SEM–PLS) and asymmetric (fsQCA) techniques to improve our understanding of the complementarities between relational and trust capital, and IT practices, and identify configurations that could yield organizational benefits for innovation outcomes.Practical implicationsThis study provides new knowledge about IT utilization in the workplace which practitioners may use to capitalize on internal and external networks and enhance innovation performance.Originality/valueExploring together intellectual capital (IC) components and IT practices, this study merges IC and knowledge management (KM) streams of literature and adds to the prominent discussion on how IC and technology-based KM together contribute to superior innovation performance. In introducing the notion of equifinality, and testing our hypothesis by applying fsQCA, we also provide new ground for methodological discussions in the field of innovation performance.

Climate of Fear: Provider Perceptions of Latinx Immigrant Service Utilization.

Latinx immigrants endure stressors throughout the immigration process that detrimentally impact their health and wellbeing. Yet, they also face substantial barriers to accessing and utilizing services. These barriers might be heightened under the Trump administration, which has implemented policies facilitating increased immigration enforcement and punitive immigration practices. This study utilizes data collected from providers who serve Latinx immigrants in the border state of Texas to better understand current immigrant service utilization behaviors. Individual interviews and focus groups were conducted shortly after the last presidential election to inquire about recruitment, retention, program completion, and resources to address key client risk factors. Applying grounded theory analysis strategies, interviews, and focus group recordings were coded for key themes. Data demonstrated central concerns held by providers serving immigrants, and especially those who are undocumented or in mixed-status families. Concerns were related to the following three themes: (1) undocumented immigrant stressors, (2) limited resources for undocumented immigrants, and (3) service utilization barriers. Lack of services for undocumented immigrants and fear related to service utilization were prominent subthemes. These findings extend our knowledge of stressors and barriers of access and utilization for immigrants during this time period of increased immigration enforcement which have valuable implications for practice and future research. Providers can take concrete actions to educate immigrants, regardless of documentation status, on how their clients' identities will be protected. In addition, intentional trust-building strategies are essential to help overcome fear of utilizing services. Future research should ascertain perspectives of immigrant families, as this study drew perspectives only from providers.

Police trust-building strategies. A socio-institutional, comparative approach

ABSTRACT Police require public trust to do their work well. Recognising this, police organisations across Europe implement various methods to gain trust: trust-building strategies. Surprisingly, the field of trust in the police and police legitimacy has paid scant attention to what the police actually do to improve trust. The present contribution outlines an approach to understanding police trust-building strategies in their social and institutional context applying a comparative, dynamic perspective. Departing from the assumption that trust and legitimacy exist in a dialogue between the public and the police, the author argues that trust-building strategies develop in an unpredictable, dynamic complex of interrelated social and institutional factors. What is seen as a suitable trust-building strategy is determined by dominant ‘rationalised myths’, ways of thinking about what good police work should look like. These are shaped by a diverse range of different actors and factors. This complex affects each phase in the development of police trust-building strategies: problem recognition, generation of strategies, and adoption of strategies. Illustrating the value of the socio-institutional approach towards trust-building strategies, each of these phases is discussed in the context of a comparative, dynamic study of police trust-building strategies in England and Wales, Denmark, and the Netherlands. It is argued that this more sophisticated understanding of trust-building in its social and institutional context does not just tell us something about the police, but also helps us understand how state institutions shape and maintain their position in the complex environments of our changing societies.

Political Discourses of Trust: Stance-taking Acts in the Thai PM’s Weekly TV Addresses

This study aims to investigate the Thai PM Gen Prayuth Chan-o-cha’s use of stance expressions to construe trust, comprising attitudinal stance, epistemic stance and modality, in his weekly addresses broadcast on national television from March to December, 2017. The linguistic investigation incorporating Critical Discourse Analysis and trust frameworks shows that the three main aspects of trust are pursued. Integrity is however predominantly constructed through the use of a modal verb kʰᴐ̌ː ‘would like’ and an attitudinal verb jà:k ‘want’. Interestingly, a relatively small number of stance markers are found to project competency and benevolence. The results have led to the conclusion that the PM’s trust-building strategies mainly involve the construal of integrity by asserting his moral values linked with national reform, reconciliation, and advancement. These characteristics of linguistic hegemony via the construction of trust-building are expected to raise more sociopolitical awareness in the Thai political context.

Justice and rule of law failure in Haiti: A view from the Shanties.

Since 1995, significant investments have been made in justice reform initiatives in Haiti. The results, however, have been meager. Drawing upon data from a longitudinal study conducted in Cité Soleil between 2008 and 2011, this article illuminates the short-sightedness of top-down reforms that fail to meet the demands of the population, leaving them to fend for themselves. In the absence of a viable justice system Cité Soleil residents have resorted to alternative, and at times pathological, measures to exact some level of "justice". In this article, we contend that an empirically grounded base of knowledge of the demand side of justice and the promotion of trust-building strategies that engage the active participation of citizens in the country are necessary to enact and sustain justice and rule of law reform. Such an approach will create a venue to channel civil society's demands, build political will and facilitate coordination between stakeholders and Haitian society for self-sustained rule of law institutions and long-term peace building in Haiti.

In-between Anxiety and Hope: Trusting an Alternative Among ‘Alternatives’ in the (Post) Organic Food Market in Turkey

Abstract. This paper argues that in Turkey there are plural alternatives within the alternative food channels and even in the recently emerging post-organic movement, by offering comparative cases from largely ignored international literature on alternative food initiatives. It examines a growing consumer food cooperative, a popular natural food store, and a well-known organic farmers’ market in Turkey, which together are considered the most prominent alternative food channels in ?stanbul by varying consumer segments. It interrogates the hows and whys of what becomes a reliable alternative and for whom in this recent complexity. This research is based on thirty in-depth interviews with the consumers and producers of ?pek Han?m’s Farm, Ferikoy Organic Farmers’ Market, and Kad?koy Cooperative. It reveals that food anxiety, trust, and hope appear as crucial dynamics of alternative relationships in the organic and post-organic food market in Turkey. These affects are visibly influenced by the social, cultural, and economic capital of consumers and interlinked with the meanings consumers attribute to their food practices. These meanings are dynamically (re)constructed through certain trust-building strategies and discourses of the ‘alternative’ which are presented by various actors (producers, marketers, cooperatives) and the ways consumers negotiate them. This study also suggests that consumers’ varying forms of food anxiety and relationship to each alternative have different repercussions in terms of social and political visions about alternative food initiatives. The major difference is derived from whether they prioritize their bodily health with the mentality of ‘neoliberal governmentality’ or share some political ambitions and hope for transforming collectively the current agri-food system.

Impacts of user interactions on trust development in C2C social commerce

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand the effect of two types of reciprocity (restricted reciprocity and generalized reciprocity) on customers’ trust in social commerce (s-commerce) and trust performance (purchase intention and word-of-mouth intention). Furthermore, this study examines how individual and contextual moderators (personal shopping experience and community shared language) could impact the trust development process.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopted a survey method and obtained data from 287 users in a customer-to-customer (C2C) s-commerce platform. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the research hypotheses.FindingsThe results demonstrate that two types of reciprocity positively affect trust in s-commerce. Customers’ trust performance is significantly affected by trust in s-commerce. Additionally, shopping experience in s-commerce is found to positively moderate the relationship between restricted reciprocity and trust in s-commerce.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings help to understand the nature and role of reciprocity in influencing trust and trust-related behaviors in the context of C2C s-commerce. The research also helps to explore the individual and contextual moderators that impact the effect of reciprocity on trust development.Practical implicationsThe results offer a comprehensive view of trust building strategies for s-commerce practitioners, including shoppers, vendors and managers of s-commerce platforms.Originality/valueThis study is among the first few research studies that offers a theory-based conceptualization of reciprocity in C2C s-commerce and provides empirical support for the impact of reciprocity on customers’ trust in C2C s-commerce. In addition, this study devises a broader view of reciprocity based on restricted and generalized exchange principle to represent the interaction of vendor–shopper and shopper–shopper, respectively.

Rebuilding Trust between Police & Communities through Procedural Justice & Reconciliation

In many societies around the world, segments of the public strongly distrust legal and political authorities. Regardless of how the distrust arises, it lessens the possibilities for future social cohesion, democratic governance, and successful economic development—factors that define strong communities. How can authorities build trust amid a legacy of distrust? In this review, the authors focus on relations between the police and communities and draw on two psychological literatures that articulate evidence-informed trust-building strategies. One, the procedural justice approach, concentrates on the fair and respectful exercise of authority during everyday interactions between individuals. The other, reconciliation, involves gestures that are carried out at the community level with the expressed intention of addressing past injustice and that promise changes in an authority's future relations with a community. This review concludes with policy recommendations, drawn from both literatures, describing a process of trust building that involves substantive improvements in procedural justice combined with reconciliatory gestures that signal a sincere intent to increase trust through service to communities.

Making higher education markets: trust-building strategies of private companies to enter the public sector

This article examines the growth of the higher education industry and specifically the expansion of private companies in the higher education sector. The higher education industry consists of diverse, multiple and variegated markets. Much of the literature concentrates on markets in which universities are increasingly sellers of products and services. This article contributes new knowledge to the field by focusing on the other side of the industry, namely on how universities are increasingly buyers. It specifically focuses on the market-making processes in the time of market emergence or initial market construction and argues that trust is a key constitutive element of market relations. Empirically, it analyses private companies’ strategies of penetrating the higher education sector to establish a market and network relations with public universities through trust-building activities. Twenty-two interviews with representatives of private companies from eight countries selling products and services in higher education were conducted. The analysis shows companies have developed three groups of sophisticated strategies to produce their trustworthiness: signalling similarity and integrity, exhibiting competence and commitment and forming an emotional connection. Through these, they aim to advance their markets and consequently contribute to the construction and expansion of the global higher education industry.

Trust and Attunement-Focused EMDR With a Child

This qualitative case study explores using eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy informed by attachment and neuroscience research about the importance of safety (trust) and relationship (attunement). This was chosen to enable a young child to create vital positive neural networks and process early trauma while remaining within the window of receptivity, despite issues of avoidance and control. A single case study design was used with a 5-year-old child who experienced early traumas. Observable symptoms included separation anxiety, avoidance, compromised motor skills, and compromised speech. Data were obtained from carer, child, and teacher report, notes, observations, case file, ratings of emotions, and behaviors. The data were explored for outcome data points, validity, and protocol adherence. Key findings were that EMDR used with attunement and trust-building strategies appeared to support developmental progress while facilitating pervasive posttraumatic growth. EMDR appears to offer appropriate opportunities for incorporating neuroscience and attachment research in order to facilitate trauma processing. Future research into EMDR storytelling procedures and possible causative relationships between trust-building and attunement with neurodevelopmental markers would be a possible next step.

Trust-building strategies in corporate discourse: An experimental study

This article presents a scenario-based experiment designed to test the effects of trust-building strategies, realised in stance-taking acts, which a previous corpus-based study found to be salient features of stakeholder-facing corporate communication. The experiment relies on a between-subjects design in which a target group of subjects are exposed to trust-building strategies while another control group of subjects are not. We apply this paradigm to corporate discourse in the form of an About Us webpage produced by a fictitious multinational pharmaceutical company that has been accused by a whistle-blower of corporate misconduct. The results of the study show that these strategies are indeed effective in fostering trust in the company and have an indirect positive effect on the perceived credibility of the company’s denial in response to the allegations made by the whistle-blower. The strategies are therefore able to mitigate the potential damage caused by public accusations of wrongdoing and help companies insure against future threats to their legitimacy and freedom to operate, as when their behaviour violates, or is said to violate, societal norms and values. Theoretically, the results provide insights into the psychological mechanisms of trust-building and reader response. Methodologically, the study contributes to the growing body of work using experimental methods in Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) by further demonstrating that experimentation can usefully complement more traditional discourse-analytical methods as a form of triangulation.

The role of trust in investor relations: a conceptual framework

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to develop a synthesis for investor relations (IR) research on how to understand, conceptualize and build trust relationships between companies and the financial community within the practice of IR. In doing so, a working definition of the role of trust for IR, a conceptual model as well as strategies on how to establish, maintain and foster trust relationships within IR are proposed. Furthermore, a brief research alley is sketched to inspire more corporate communication scholars to conduct empirical studies in this field of research.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on a thorough literature review on empirical and theoretical work in the field of IR, strategic financial communication as well as related disciplines such as public relations, marketing and business research. Furthermore, the literature from other disciplines dealing with trust in the organizational context (economics, psychology, sociology) has been reviewed to develop a working definition for the role of trust in IR.FindingsThe following supposition for the role of trust in IR has been worked out: “Trust relationships within investor relations manifest themselves on a micro-, meso-, and macro-level and involve interactions with various individual actors, groups of people, organizations, institutions, and systems. Within these trust interactions, investor relations presents itself simultaneously three-fold: as a discipline, an organization and as individual practitioners.”Practical implicationsTo support the establishment, maintenance and fostering of trust relationships, IR needs to provide honest, transparent, comprehensive and coherent information to be in continuous, direct and mutual contact with stakeholders (e.g. investors, analysts, CEOs) and to endeavor a fair representation of the company in the media and among the public.Originality/valueFacing recent changes in the media, regulatory and corporate environment, this conceptual paper provides a thorough discussion of the role of trust in the field of IR. The working definition, the conceptual model as well as the practical strategies to build trust relationships provided in this paper might help IR to overcome these challenges. The call for more research in this area and the actual employment of the suggested trust building strategies might contribute to fostering trust relationships in the financial markets, thereby contributing to a more sustainable financial system in the long run.

Understanding community protest from a project management perspective: A relationship-based approach

Communities negatively affected by construction projects are becoming increasingly empowered, organised and willing to engage in protest. The importance of communities as project stakeholders is widely recognized in the project management literature, but there is little empirical research to help project managers understand how to effectively engage with communities to prevent protests developing and escalating. Contributing to the emerging ‘Relationship Approach’ in project management theory which focusses on communities as legitimate stakeholders in projects, this paper draws on theories of collective identity and social capital to present an ethnographic analysis of community action against a large-scale and highly controversial construction project in Australia. The results show that dealing with community protest is a complex and dynamic challenge for project managers due to the anarchic and self-organising properties of community-based protest groups. It is concluded that effective community engagement strategies require project managers to adopt trust-building strategies early in projects and an intimate understanding of community concerns and social structures.

Trust in financial services: the influence of demographics and dispositional characteristics

So far, very little attention has been paid to examining consumer perceptions of trust from an interdisciplinary perspective. The purpose of this study is to examine how consumer trusting belief and disposition to trust within the financial services sector vary on the basis of individual demographic differences in trust. The research provides new insights into how consumers with higher dispositional trust have higher institutional trust and higher trusting belief and how consumers’ trusting belief significantly differs according to their demographic background in terms of age, marital status, ethnicity and gross annual income. The findings offer useful insights for the managers in financial institutions to carefully consider the impact of the influence of these individual differences on consumer behaviour in order to serve the needs of consumers in their target market and be able to design financial products and develop trust building strategies to attract and retain them. They also call for the action of the regulators and the financial institutions to play their part in building strong institutional systems that contribute to engendering higher levels of consumer trust.