Trust is a property of a system or relationship based on expectations of reasonable and fair behaviour. Trust and mistrust are commonly regarded as complementary opposites.
Trust
- Trust is commonly regarded as a positive good - the lubricant of business relationships. Like oil, it is slippery and difficult to grasp.
- We define trust as a property of a system or relationship based on expectations of reasonable and fair behaviour. In some situations, trust is regarded as simply the absence of mistrust.
- We generally trust people and situations, unless we have some specific reason to distrust them. However, this may sometimes be insufficient basis for positive trust.
Mistrust
- There is a clear difference between a simple absence of trust, and positive mistrust. Mistrust is supposedly a consequence of past actions. In fact, it is often a consequence of a complex set of beliefs, perceptions, associations and interpretations.
- Mistrust is usually more difficult to deal with than simple absence of trust. How do I deal with other people's mistrust of me, whether this is fairly deserved or not? Do I tackle false beliefs head-on, or do I try to dissociate myself from the events that triggered the mistrust, or do I simply switch my identity and reappear under a new guise?
Practical Questions
- How can we assess the level of trust in a given situation?
- How can we increase the level of trust?
- How should we deal with people, companies and situations we mistrust?
- How can we respond to the declared or inferred mistrust of others?
Four types of trust (and mistrust)
Centralized
- Authority (Top Down) Trust - Trust is guaranteed by reference to some authority, and is typically configured hierarchically. This mode of trust is found in a range of centralized identity management (authorization/authentication) including Passport, Verisign and Identrus.
- Commodity (Contract) Trust - Trust is supplied as a product or service. It carries a price and expected service levels.
- Network (Web) Trust - Trust is conferred by the collective action of a distributed network. The internet is trusted to do certain things because there is no single point of failure. Competitive markets are trusted to set fair prices.
- Relationship (Authentic) Trust - Trust is inherent in an authentic and committed engagement with business partners.
Police force example
A police force is an organization that generally requires high levels of trust. All four types of trust are relevant to a police force.
- Authority (Top Down) Trust - For many citizens, the police force both symbolizes and realises a form of social authority. This authority is reinforced by police procedure, and by wearing the uniform. Members of certain communities or subcultures sometimes have a hostile attitude to this authority. Defence lawyers may attack police procedure in order to undermine trust in police evidence.
- Commodity (Contract) Trust - Trust in the quality of service provided by the police. Service targets - crime rates, crime clear-up rates, speed of response. These are primary political concerns.
- Network (Web) Trust - The police do not operate in isolation but in collaboration with other bodies such as social services, health, education and the judiciary, as well as community groups. Trust in the police force depends on complex institutional and often semi-formal arrangements with these bodies, and may be affected by problems elsewhere in this network.
- Relationship (Authentic) Trust - Trust created by personal relationships between individual police officers and the community.
Aidan Ward and John Smith, Trust and Mistrust (Wiley 2003)
Originally posted at http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~rxv/trust/index.htm
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