Trust Radius Research Articles

Methodology of the comparative sociology of trust (case study of Russia and China)

The article deals with the methodological issues of the comparative sociology of trust. In order to compare the level of trust in different countries a set of indicators is proposed (generalized trust; particularized trust; trust radius; institutional trust). The problems of measuring generalized and institutional trust in China and Russia are revealed. Based on World Values Survey data, a comparative analysis of trust levels in the Russian Federation and China is carried out. The authors also present data from their own empirical study of trust (telephone survey of the population in St. Petersburg and Leningradskaya Oblast; Internet study of trust, in-depth interviews of both residents of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China). To explain the processes of transformation of trust in the Russian Federation and China, a modernization approach is used and the role of a culture of trust is revealed. China has a high level of both generalized and institutionalized trust based on its own specific culture of trust. But the radius of trust is narrow and indicators of out-group trust are extremely low. In Russia, the level of generalized trust is low, but the level of institutional trust is average, radius of trust is wider and the level of out-group trust is higher. Particularized trust is approximately the same in China and Russia; at least, we have not identified any special “familistic culture of trust”.

The influence of emotional tendency on the dissemination and evolution of opinions in two-layer social networks

To investigate the influence of emotional tendency on the dissemination and evolution of opinions, in this paper, we first propose a novel algorithm to construct a two-layer social networks, who is composed of a strong-tie subnet and a weak-tie subnet. Considering the weights on the strong-tie and weak-tie networks and the subjective emotional tendencies of individuals, the HK model with emotional tendency (i.e. E-HK model), the weight HK model (i.e. WHK model), and the weight HK model with emotional tendency (i.e. E-WHK model) are put forward. Finally, according to the algorithm and the E-WHK model newly presented, we use the seventh census data to construct a social network, and explore individuals' opinion evolution, as well as the influence of three factors, including the level of subjective emotional tendency, the trust radius, and the proportions of individuals with different emotional tendencies. Abundant simulations demonstrate that the E-WHK model can explain the dissemination and evolution of opinions very well. In addition, the greater the level of emotional tendency, the faster the convergence of individuals’ opinions. Increasing the trust radius will make completely positive and negative opinions decrease. Enhancing the proportion of optimists/pessimists, most individuals' ultimate opinions tend to be completely positive/negative. The results of this paper provide theoretical methods and analytical tools for managers in guiding public sentiment during public events.

A multi-stage multi-criterion group decision-making method for emergency management based on alternative chain and trust radius of experts

Multi-criterion group decision-making (MCGDM) is common when a group of experts collectively evaluate feasible alternatives regarding a set of criteria. With the increasing complexity of decision-making activities, there may be intricate interrelationships between criteria. In addition, many MCGDM problems have a dynamic characteristic when alternatives are presented to experts sequentially. In such a multi-stage setting, previous experts have influence on later experts. To overcome these challenges in MCGDM, this study first introduces two concepts, namely, trust radius, to model the social influence of experts, and alternative chain, to represent multiple alternatives that can be coordinated at adjacent stages, and then proposes a multi-stage MCGDM method based on the alternative chain and trust radius of experts. In this method, the weights of experts are determined according to the degree that an expert is influenced by others and the degree that an expert has influence on others. The weights of criteria are determined by the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method. This study obtains the optimal alternative chain from a 0–1 optimization model based on comprehensive scores of alternatives at each stage and compatible relationships between adjacent stages. The applicability of the proposed method is demonstrated by an illustrative example regarding emergency management of dammed lakes after natural disasters. Comparative analyses show advantages of this method.

Exploring the Factorial Structure and Criterion Validity of Institutional Trust in Slovakia

The present study aims to examine the dimensionality and criterion validity of the institutional trust construct in Slovakia using a comprehensive list of thirty-three public institutions. A representative sample of 600 Slovaks first reported their level of trust in institutions and then reported on their social trust, propensity to trust, dispositional trust, and trust radius measures. A holdout cross-validation method was used to evaluate the dimensionality of the institutional trust construct. Exploratory factor analysis yielded a six-factor solution, and the confirmatory factor analysis showed a good overall fit for the five-factor solution that included the following dimensions: political institutions, foreign institutions, social services institutions, order institutions, and media institutions. All five dimensions showed weak-to-moderate relationships with interpersonal trust measures. The present study highlights that delving into the dimensionality of institutional trust may contribute to the understanding of the phenomenon within specific geographical, political, societal, and historical, characteristics of the countries.

Within-Race Trust and the Trust Radius: Race Differences in Post-Apartheid South Africa

Within-Race Trust and the Trust Radius: Race Differences in Post-Apartheid South Africa

Trust radius and earnings surprises: With a humanistic approach to culture

In global stock markets, I test a new measure of trust, national trust radius, and report that it is better than the existing measure. In a country with larger trust radius, information transmission is more efficient between earnings announcements and stock reactions. Tests based on various windows of returns, re-calibrations of trust radius, 2SLS, and controls corroborate this result. This tendency is most pronounced in Protestant regions, and least in Ex-Communist and Confucian regions. A humanistic approach based on a textual interpretation of classical documents (Luther, Marx, and Confucius) illumines why cultural regions have different widths of trust radius.

How Much does Empathy Resemble Trust? Trust Radius and Interpersonal Empathy in South Korea

This research attempts to 1) explore trust from a theoretical angle using various perspectives in the social science research literature and 2) reveal the empirical relationship between trust and empathy at the individual level. Although trust and empathy share similar characteristics when considered in the realm of theory, they have typically been probed in distinct disciplines. Hence, there is a need for interdisciplinary perspective that addresses two concepts together. Using the Social Attitude Survey for Korean Society data collected in 2021, this study conducted a correlation and multivariate analysis that examined how much trust and empathy resemble. The results show that trust radius and interpersonal empathy are highly correlated. Also, trust and empathy levels differ from individual to individual in terms of one’s socioeconomic and demographic background. From this comparison, we emphasize the importance of the macro level effect of trust and empathy.

Outward specific trust in the balancing of hierarchical government trust: Evidence from mainland China.

This study elaborates the link between social trust and government trust by investigating how the extent of outwardness in one's specific trusting relation, as coalescence of trust strength and radius, relates to the varying trust in governments of different administrative levels. Using survey data collected in China, a country featured by the hierarchical government trust and differential mode of interpersonal association, we show that, in both urban and rural areas, the outward orientation of interpersonal trust is positively associated with the trust in the subnational governments, while being independent from the confidence in the central government, suggesting a less hierarchical and more balanced attitude toward government trust. One's generalized trust fails to show such a pattern. This study illustrates a handy measure that combines trust radius and trust strength and highlights the relevance of specific trust for political attitudes in an authoritarian regime.

Revisiting the “Trust Radius” Question: Individualism, Collectivism, and Trust Radius in South Korea

Building on recent studies on the “trust radius” problem in generalized trust, this study proposes a new measure of trust radius, which is conceptually straightforward and flexible, and examines its relationship with the individualist–collectivist value orientations. Our proposed measure is based on widely available survey questions, can be applied to individual-level analysis, and has stronger predictive validity compared with the “most people” question or a measure of radius used in previous studies. Applying this measure to a new, nationally representative survey data from South Korea, we find that Koreans have a narrow trust radius that is limited to the most intimate social circles. Our regression analysis shows that respondents with strong collectivist orientations have a wider trust radius, whereas those with strong individualist orientations have a narrower radius. Our finding on individualist–collectivist orientations contradicts previous studies based on mostly European cross-national data, which found the opposite, and suggests that we cannot generalize the relationship between cultural values and trust found in cross-national studies to the individual-level relationship within a nation. We conclude with a discussion of our findings’ implications for future research on social trust.

Specific Trust Matters: The Association between the Trustworthiness of Specific Partners and Subjective Wellbeing

ABSTRACT Drawing on the sixth wave of the World Values Survey, this article examines the correlation between specific trust and subjective wellbeing. We find that (1) specific trust in different types of partners always has a positive correlation with happiness and life satisfaction; (2) the strength of this positive association declines from the socially closest partner to the socially remotest partner; (3) the trust radius is positively related to the indicators of subjective wellbeing; and (4) among the multiple specific trustees, specific trust in family members is comparable with generalized trust in terms of the strength of correlation with subjective wellbeing.

The Influence of Trust Radius and Social Media on Social Conflict in South Korea

Le rôle de la confiance et les médias sociaux dans le conflit social en Corée du Sud. Cet article traite des rôles paradoxaux de la confiance sociale au sein des conflits sociaux dans des situations où les médias sociaux affichent des opinions idéologiquement polarisées. La communication en ligne permettant aux utilisateurs d’interagir anonymement au delà des limites spatio-temporelles, les recherches académiques ont principalement mis l’accent sur les caractéristiques culturelles des réseaux sociaux. Cependant, l’acceptation des opinions extérieures fait partie d’une décision individuelle en lien avec la confiance sociale. Ainsi, cette recherche vise a déchiffrer les deux rôles de la confiance sociale, précisément concernant le rayon de confiance: (1) En réduisant directement le niveau de perception du conflit social dans une société et 2) En promouvant la fiabilité de l’information disponible en ligne. Relatif au rôle précèdent, un rayon de confiance supérieur associé aux conditions de médias sociaux où les controverses sont alimentées par des mots provocateurs, les individus ont alors davantage tendance a mal percevoir l’existence d’un conflit social. En conséquence, contrairement aux études qui ont surtout mis l’accent sur les connotations positives de la confiance sociale, notre conclusion souligne que le côté sombre de la confiance sociale coexiste avec ses aspects positifs.

Parallel Space-Mapping Based Yield-Driven EM Optimization Incorporating Trust Region Algorithm and Polynomial Chaos Expansion

Space mapping (SM) methodology has been recognized as a powerful tool for accelerating electromagnetic (EM)-based yield optimization. This paper proposes a novel parallel space-mapping based yield-driven EM optimization technique incorporating trust region algorithm and polynomial chaos expansion (PCE). In this technique, a novel trust region algorithm is proposed to increase the robustness of the SM surrogate in each iteration during yield optimization. The proposed algorithm updates the trust radius of each design parameter based on the effectiveness of minimizing the l 1 objective function using the surrogate, thereby increasing the robustness of the SM surrogate. Moreover, for the first time, parallel computation method is incorporated into SM-based yield-driven design to accelerate the overall yield optimization process of microwave structures. The use of parallel computation allows the surrogate developed in the proposed technique to be valid in a larger neighborhood than that in standard SM, consequently increasing the speed of finding the optimal yield solution in SM-based yield-driven design. Lastly, the PCE approach is incorporated into the proposed technique to further speed up yield verification on the fine model. Compared with the standard SM-based yield optimization technique with sequential computation, the proposed technique achieves a higher yield increase with shorter CPU time by reducing the number of SM iterations. The proposed technique is illustrated by two microwave examples.

From individual social capital to collective social capital: empirical evidence from inter-firm financing trust network

The paper proposes two theoretical hypotheses about how collective social capital is constructed based on the operation of individual social capital in Chinese context: the logic of particularist guanxi operations and the logic of social prestige recognition. The two hypotheses are tested by an empirical study about inter-firm networking for financing supports It is found that the former logic, which is strengthened by guanxi proximity including kinship proximity, geographic proximity, and industrial proximity, would make the focal firm restrain its trust relationship within a particular small group, leading the firm to become part of a sectarian small-group trust network; and the latter logic, which is strengthened by classification homogeneity, would encourage the focal firm to trust unspecified business partners, leading firms to become part of a large-scale open trust network. The trust radius of the focal firm has a mediating effect on the relationship between individual social capital and the collective-level structure of inter-firm financing trust network, thus exerting important influence on the construction of collective social capital.

In whom do we trust? The level and radius of social trust among sport club members

This paper refers to the widespread notion that voluntary (sport) organizations produce social capital, popularized through the works of Robert D. Putnam, and compares social trust levels of sport club members with members in other voluntary associations and non-members. We differentiate between in-group trust and out-group trust, highlighting that not only the level of trust but also the “trust radius” counts for social cohesion in modern societies. Refining Putnam’s claims, we argue that social trust among members varies with the quality and intensity of participation captured (for instance, through volunteering), diverse social contacts and the level of membership trust experienced in an association. Based on a nation-wide survey, carried out in Germany during 2017/2018, it is demonstrated that members of civic associations indicate higher levels of trust towards in-groups and out-groups compared to non-members and they regard present society as more solidary and trusting. A fine-grained analysis among members of associations further shows that increased trust is typical for volunteers and individuals in socially diverse associations which, at the same time, are characterized by high levels of membership trust. We conclude that sports clubs need to provide beneficial context conditions for producing high levels and a wider radius of trust.

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.

Positive collaboration: Factors and mechanisms of evolution

Abstract This article proposes that two types of collaboration can be distinguished: a positive collaboration (not directed against third parties) and negative collaboration. I consider the hypothesis that in the process of social development, the transaction costs ratio of the three main types of coordination — competition, power, and collaboration — is changing in favor of the latter. The article examines the mechanisms that are responsible for the implementation of this tendency and attempts to explain its nonmonotonicity. It is shown that the strengthening role of positive collaboration is largely explained by cultural changes, including the enhancement of tolerance culture, spread of cosmopolitanism and altruism, and increase in the planning horizon as well as trust radius. I demonstrate the importance of the institutions that support positive collaboration in the process of catching-up development; it is shown that shock reforms could lead to the formation of negative collaboration mechanisms. A program of interdisciplinary research is outlined for the further development of these ideas.

Positive collaboration: Factors and mechanisms of evolution

T is proposed in the article to distinguish between two types of collaboration: a positive (not directed against third parties) and a negative one. I consider the hypothesis that in the process of social development, transaction costs ratio of the three main types of coordination - competition, power, and collaboration - is changing in favor of the latter. The mechanisms responsible for the implementation of this tendency are studied, and an attempt to explain its nonmonotonicity is made. It is shown that the strengthening role of positive collaboration is largely explained by cultural changes: the enhance of tolerance culture, the spread of cosmopolitanism and altruism, increasing planning horizon as well as trust radius. I demonstrate the importance of the institutions of positive collaboration in the process of catchingup development; it is shown that shock reforms could lead to the formation of negative collaboration mechanisms. For the further development of these ideas, a program of interdisciplinary researches is outlined.

Trust Radius versus Trust Level

In their October 2011 ASR article, “How General Is Trust in ‘Most People’? Solving the Radius of Trust Problem,” Delhey, Newton, and Welzel pioneer the measurement of trust radius, defined as the width of the circle of people among whom a certain trust level exists. One key finding of their study is that trust radius correlates so strongly with out-group trust level that the two are essentially identical constructs; this clashes with standard theory’s finding that trust level and trust radius are distinct trust constructs. This result proves to be erroneous, however, due to a mistaken label. I seek to correct this labeling error and find that trust radius is, in fact, a separate trust construct. Trust radius differs from established trust level constructs such as level of trust in most people and level of out-group trust, not only theoretically but empirically as well.

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.

On the Metric of Charge Transfer Molecular Excitations: A Simple Chemical Descriptor.

A new index is defined with the aim of further exploring the metric of excited electronic states in the framework of the time-dependent density functional theory. This descriptor, called Δr, is based on the charge centroids of the orbitals involved in the excitations and can be interpreted in term of the hole-electron distance. The tests carried out on a set of molecules characterized by a significant number of charge-transfer excitations well illustrate its ability in discriminating between short (Δr ≤ 1.5 Å) and long-range (Δr ≥ 2.0 Å) excitations. On the basis of the well-known pitfalls of TD-DFT, its values can be then associated to the functional performances in reproducing different type of transitions and allow for the definition of a "trust radius" for GGA and hybrid functionals. The study of other systems, including some well-known difficult cases for other metric descriptors, gives further evidence of the high discrimination power of the proposed index. The combined use with other density or orbital-based descriptors is finally suggested to have a reliable diagnostic test of TD-DFT transitions.