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Learning to Trust: From Relational Exchange to Generalized Trust in China

Victor, Nee ; Holm, Hj LU and Opper, Sonja LU (2018) In Organization Science 29(5). p.969-986
Abstract
Where does generalized trust—that is, the inclination to place trust in strangers—come from? Our claim is that in economic action, sources of generalized trust may not differ much from the sources of personalized trust. Contrary to a common assumption of a sharp distinction between personalized and generalized trust, we assert a likely spillover effect from relational exchange to a person’s expectations in interacting with an anonymous other. Our research integrates behavioral measures elicited by a novel incentivized trust game with survey data using a random sample of 540 entrepreneurs of private industrial firms in the Yangzi delta region of China. We show that entrepreneurs with more experience in relational exchange display greater... (More)
Where does generalized trust—that is, the inclination to place trust in strangers—come from? Our claim is that in economic action, sources of generalized trust may not differ much from the sources of personalized trust. Contrary to a common assumption of a sharp distinction between personalized and generalized trust, we assert a likely spillover effect from relational exchange to a person’s expectations in interacting with an anonymous other. Our research integrates behavioral measures elicited by a novel incentivized trust game with survey data using a random sample of 540 entrepreneurs of private industrial firms in the Yangzi delta region of China. We show that entrepreneurs with more experience in relational exchange display greater trust in strangers. Likewise, we find robust evidence of a positive association between beliefs in the effectiveness of community business norms and generalized trust. (Less)
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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Organization Science
volume
29
issue
5
pages
18 pages
publisher
Informs
external identifiers
  • scopus:85049723228
ISSN
1047-7039
DOI
10.1287/orsc.2018.1213
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
2b527672-7467-43c6-8d6c-5a060f87760d
date added to LUP
2018-06-26 22:16:04
date last changed
2022-04-17 21:10:24
@article{2b527672-7467-43c6-8d6c-5a060f87760d,
  abstract     = {{Where does generalized trust—that is, the inclination to place trust in strangers—come from? Our claim is that in economic action, sources of generalized trust may not differ much from the sources of personalized trust. Contrary to a common assumption of a sharp distinction between personalized and generalized trust, we assert a likely spillover effect from relational exchange to a person’s expectations in interacting with an anonymous other. Our research integrates behavioral measures elicited by a novel incentivized trust game with survey data using a random sample of 540 entrepreneurs of private industrial firms in the Yangzi delta region of China. We show that entrepreneurs with more experience in relational exchange display greater trust in strangers. Likewise, we find robust evidence of a positive association between beliefs in the effectiveness of community business norms and generalized trust.}},
  author       = {{Victor, Nee and Holm, Hj and Opper, Sonja}},
  issn         = {{1047-7039}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{5}},
  pages        = {{969--986}},
  publisher    = {{Informs}},
  series       = {{Organization Science}},
  title        = {{Learning to Trust: From Relational Exchange to Generalized Trust in China}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2018.1213}},
  doi          = {{10.1287/orsc.2018.1213}},
  volume       = {{29}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}