Toward a Theory of Trust Development, Violation, and Repair across Cultures
Abstract
Interpersonal trust is a critical concern for all branches of the U.S. military, as warfighting and peacekeeping both require reliance upon the cooperation of others. Very little is known about how interpersonal trust functions in non-Western cultures despite an abundance of scientific knowledge on how to develop, maintain, and repair trust from a Western cultural standpoint. If the U.S. Army is to build and sustain peace overseas and achieve mission success, there is a critical need to explore how other cultures approach the concept of trust. Therefore, the overarching aim of this Early Career research program is to begin building and testing a theory of trust development, violation, and repair processes across cultures. This research, although explicitly avoiding the use of Western theories in order to reduce bias, does by necessity make some theoretical assumptions. First, this research assumes that trust violations and trust repair behaviors function as critical trust-related experiences for all individuals regardless of culture, and that these experiences impact behavioral trust via their influence on a trustorÕs interrelated affective and cognitive reactions. Further, this research assumes that cultural values influence the way individuals perceive, interpret, and react to trust violations and trust repair behaviors. As such, the proposed research focuses on two related goals: (1) uncovering the underlying mechanisms that define the experiences of trust violation and repair universally across all cultures and (2) identifying the value-driven differences across cultures in reactions to trust violations and repair strategies. An 18-month critical incident interview data collection effort aimed at grounded theory building will be conducted, followed by an optional phase of initial theory testing via a survey-based field study and a laboratory-based experiment. The grounded theory approach is a qualitative research approach intended to generate richly contextualized theory from data. The field survey study aims to generalize the model in a larger working adult sample, whereas the experiment aims to serve as an initial test of one or more casual assumptions from the theory. In terms of advancing basic science, this research will expand the fundamental scientific knowledge regarding trust across cultures and provide a foundation for future studies of trust development, violation, and repair across cultures. In terms of advancing U.S. Army capabilities, this research is expected to inform policy regarding interactions between U.S. personnel and foreign entities. U.S. entities can utilize this research to establish behavioral protocols, standards, and procedures to reduce the likelihood of trust violations and promote effective repair behaviors, thereby increasing the prevalence of trusting relationships and effective collaborations involving the U.S. Army.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jan 12, 2017
- Source ID
- W911NF1610106
Entities
People
- Jessica L. Wildman
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- Florida Institute of Technology
- United States Army