THE DYNAMICS OF TRUST
Relationships matter
– The dynamics of trust
Relationships matter. Relationships are about simple things, like respect, valuing other’s opinions, acting with integrity and being trustworthy – or being worthy of trust.
A farmer group and I were talking last week about their community. The importance of relationships came up many times during our conversation, trust in particular. One of the group commented: “Farmers work with people and groups they trust”. Trust is a commonly used word, but what does trust look like? What does trust involve? How does trust shape who and what we believe and how we act?
Let me share what I’ve learnt about trust. These insights are from past experiences and an in-depth social science study with some New Zealand dairy farmers and members of their community. Among other things, we unpacked the concept of trust and what it looks like – or, what it means for farmers, their families, their businesses and their communities.
Evidence suggests that people tend to believe, accept and use information from those they trust. Information can contribute to building understanding (what we need to do and why) and understanding can contribute to a change in behaviour. Farmers are being asked/expected to change farm management practice to improve environmental outcomes, water quality in particular. Some questions we might have: How does trust shape where farmers obtain information about water quality? How does trust shape who and what farmers believe? How does trust shape whether farmers believe information and use this information to change practice?
Let’s unpack trust a bit more and start with some theory. Theory provide a framework from which we can build our own ideas.
Theory suggests trust contains some key attributes:
Trust is dynamic rather than static – it is constantly developing, growing and declining over time
Actions, words and decisions can contribute to the growth and decline of trust –e.g. past experiences can influence how you feel, think and act now
Trust is underpinned by expectations of behaviour – we expect people/organisations to behave in a certain way - trust can decline from a violation of these expectations.
Theory also suggests trust exists in three main forms:
individual or personal (trust between individuals),
organisational or institutional (trust an individual has in an organisation or formal institution – like a business, or government)
social (trust that individuals have in their fellow citizens)
Based on theory, and in-depth research social science research, we can develop a framework of components that can contribute to the dynamics of trust. Some of the components in our trust framework include:
Care
Competency
Commitment
Predictability
A perception of external control
Please join me on our trust journey as we develop and explore our trust framework. Through a series of blogs, you’ll hear from farmers about what trust looks like for them, the people and organisations they trust – or don’t trust - and how relationships based on trust shape what these farmers believe and how they act.
Interested to learn more about building relationships that matter? Interested in rural social science research? I can help you.
Please get in touch with me at Heather Collins Consulting: heather@heathercollins.co.nz
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