Necessary and Sufficient Conditions in Trust Development Over Time : Understanding the Borrower–Lender Relationship
(2026) In British Journal of Management 37(2).- Abstract
We explore configurations of sufficient and necessary conditions for the evolution and resilience of borrower trust in their lenders. Because trust is a dynamic phenomenon that needs to be understood in terms of change over time, we rely on longitudinal data collected from managers of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) who are clients of cooperative banks operating in Austria and Finland, and perform fuzzy set qualitative analysis. Our findings show support for a positive feedback loop of interpersonal trust and positive bank lending decisions. In case of mixed or negative bank lending decisions, breeding and sustaining interpersonal trust appears to be more complex as it requires a rooting in actors’ general propensity to trust... (More)
We explore configurations of sufficient and necessary conditions for the evolution and resilience of borrower trust in their lenders. Because trust is a dynamic phenomenon that needs to be understood in terms of change over time, we rely on longitudinal data collected from managers of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) who are clients of cooperative banks operating in Austria and Finland, and perform fuzzy set qualitative analysis. Our findings show support for a positive feedback loop of interpersonal trust and positive bank lending decisions. In case of mixed or negative bank lending decisions, breeding and sustaining interpersonal trust appears to be more complex as it requires a rooting in actors’ general propensity to trust and/or trust in the institutional environment. We discuss the implications for the theory and practice of trust-based exchange relations.
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- author
- Moro, Andrea LU ; Fink, Matthias and Maresch, Daniela
- organization
- publishing date
- 2026
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- British Journal of Management
- volume
- 37
- issue
- 2
- publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:105030675399
- ISSN
- 1045-3172
- DOI
- 10.1111/1467-8551.70049
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Publisher Copyright: © 2026 The Author(s). British Journal of Management published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Academy of Management.
- id
- e5e942b0-a5a3-441f-bf8e-c19e14ae2c1d
- date added to LUP
- 2026-04-09 15:13:43
- date last changed
- 2026-06-10 09:13:13
@article{e5e942b0-a5a3-441f-bf8e-c19e14ae2c1d,
abstract = {{<p>We explore configurations of sufficient and necessary conditions for the evolution and resilience of borrower trust in their lenders. Because trust is a dynamic phenomenon that needs to be understood in terms of change over time, we rely on longitudinal data collected from managers of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) who are clients of cooperative banks operating in Austria and Finland, and perform fuzzy set qualitative analysis. Our findings show support for a positive feedback loop of interpersonal trust and positive bank lending decisions. In case of mixed or negative bank lending decisions, breeding and sustaining interpersonal trust appears to be more complex as it requires a rooting in actors’ general propensity to trust and/or trust in the institutional environment. We discuss the implications for the theory and practice of trust-based exchange relations.</p>}},
author = {{Moro, Andrea and Fink, Matthias and Maresch, Daniela}},
issn = {{1045-3172}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{2}},
publisher = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
series = {{British Journal of Management}},
title = {{Necessary and Sufficient Conditions in Trust Development Over Time : Understanding the Borrower–Lender Relationship}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.70049}},
doi = {{10.1111/1467-8551.70049}},
volume = {{37}},
year = {{2026}},
}