Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Notes on contributors
- Preface: discovering new territory in public trust in business
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Public trust in business: what’s the problem and why does it matter?
- Part I Trusting the institution of business
- 2 The economic crisis of 2008, trust in government, and generalized trust
- 3 Too big to trust? Managing stakeholder trust in business in the post-bail-out economy
- 4 At the crossroads of trust and distrust: skepticism and ambivalence toward business
- 5 Public trust in business and its determinants
- 6 The role of public, relational, and organizational trust in economic affairs
- Part II Public trust and business organizations
- Index
- References
6 - The role of public, relational, and organizational trust in economic affairs
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2014
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Notes on contributors
- Preface: discovering new territory in public trust in business
- Acknowledgments
- 1 Public trust in business: what’s the problem and why does it matter?
- Part I Trusting the institution of business
- 2 The economic crisis of 2008, trust in government, and generalized trust
- 3 Too big to trust? Managing stakeholder trust in business in the post-bail-out economy
- 4 At the crossroads of trust and distrust: skepticism and ambivalence toward business
- 5 Public trust in business and its determinants
- 6 The role of public, relational, and organizational trust in economic affairs
- Part II Public trust and business organizations
- Index
- References
Summary
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
the situation
Trust not only saves on transaction costs, it also increases the overall efficiency of a system. It enables the production of more goods (or more of what a group values, if we focus on so-called public goods) at less cost. But trust cannot be simply produced on demand and it cannot be bought or sold on the open market.
The lack of mutual trust represents a loss: beyond the specific economic loss at the transactional level, there is a contribution to the deterioration in the effective functioning of the political system and other collective undertakings.
key questions
To what extent does a lack of public trust weaken the foundations of the institutions that provide for the smooth functioning of society? What impact do public trust, relational trust, and organizational trust have on the economy?
new knowledge
When two partner firms are very familiar with one another, organizational culture is a critical factor in trustworthiness. Contractual safeguards become more significant when the reputation of the alliance firm is less favorable.
Societies are evolving away from trust relationships toward externally regulated behavior. This is in part due to changes in the ways in which people relate to one another. People have gradually become less reliant on the “thick” relations of trust and normative control typical of small communities, and have come to depend on larger networks of “thin” relations of trust and cooperation that typify relationships spread out over geographic space.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Public Trust in Business , pp. 154 - 176Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014
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