Trust Contextualized: Confidence in Theory and Practice

Abstract

What is the role of social trust in society and in organizational life? Does trust, as many imagine, function as a sort of a web that holds together the entire machinery of society, as a lubricant that oils the wheels of exchange and transactions? Or is it, in reality, a loose but sticky glue that produces inertia and slowness of reaction, hampering mobility and change? What mechanisms have developed in modern society to create, manage, maintain, and convey trust, not only in such different organizational settings as corporations, agencies of public administration, and civil society organizations, but also across these boundaries and other settings? What happens in the transition zone between different societal contexts, when trust is being recontextualized in diverse institutions and cultures? And—perhaps of particular importance today—what can we learn from the logic of de- and recontextualization of trust, in situations where public confidence is shattered?