Mechanisms of declining intra-ethnic trust in newly diverse immigrant destinations [post-print]

Some recent findings suggest that increasing ethnic diversity is associated with declining social cohesion within ethnic groups. Prevailing findings indicate that diversity is connected to declines in some forms of trust but not consistently to declines in participation. I evaluate the extent to which three proposed mechanisms—divergent norms, networks and preferences—might explain this phenomenon. The mechanisms all suggest that diversity contributes to declining in-group trust due to social withdrawal; yet the implied declines in participation are not consistently in evidence. The mismatch between prevailing findings and proposed mechanisms suggests a need to consider alternate explanations for declining trust amidst diversity. Drawing on 286 interviews in four newly diverse US immigrant destinations, I find that increasing diversity reveals in-group cleavages regarding how to respond to the out-group. Among immigrants, differing views on integration foster in-group mistrust. Similarly, among non-immigrants, disagreements over local policies towards foreign-born residents undermine in-group trust. The alternate mechanism proposed here, focusing on how divergent in-group preferences diminish trust, need not be limited to the new immigrant destination context and better explains prevailing findings

Distributive Justice and Precarious Work

This case study analyzes precarious employment from the perspective of different theories of distributive justice. Its purpose is to serve as a learning tool for students in business ethics courses

On Behalf of a Bi-Level Account of Trust

A bi-level account of trust is developed and defended, one with relevance in ethics as well as epistemology. The proposed account of trust—on which trusting is modelled within a virtue-theoretic framework as a performance-type with an aim—distinguishes between two distinct levels of trust, apt and convictive, that take us beyond previous assessments of its nature, value, and relationship to risk assessment. While Ernest Sosa (2009; 2015; 2017), in particular, has shown how a performance normativity model may be fruitfully applied to belief, my objective is to apply this kind of model in a novel and principled way to trust. I conclude by outlining some of the key advantages of the performance-theoretic bi-level account of trust defended over more traditional univocal proposals

The Social Context of the Labor Supply

In this paper we empirically investigate the relationship between social capital and the supply of labor. We identify social capital with non-market relationships. Data are obtained from the US General Social Survey for the period 1976-2004. We find evidence that social capital affects the supply of labor. In particular non-instrumental relations reduce the supply of labor, whereas instrumental relations increase it. Moreover, there are substantial differences between men and women: social capital has a greater impact on the labor supply of women. Our findings suggest that Putnam’s thesis that the decline of US social capital is largely due to the increase in participation of women to the labor market may be partly reversed: the decline of US intrinsic social capital has fostered women’s labor market participation.intrinsic motivations, labor supply, relational goods, social capital

Managing client relationships in the public sector.

Today we’re talking about trust and relationship management in the delivery of government services. That involves cooperation between government agencies and the community. How can we trust that the community will cooperate? Well that’s easy many might say - the law and the use of contracts, sanctions and audits ensures that we can trust others. The law allows us to trust others because we all know what is expected of us and we all know what will happen if we don’t do what is expected. The law is important but I suggest to you that this is a narrow view of trust – because the law, contracts, and monitoring are never perfect. We may be talking about control rather than trust. That is a rational view of trust, and it forgets something very important, something so basic we often don’t even realise it. And that is that trust is also relational – trust is the basis of our social relationships, not only with those we know personally, but with strangers and with government departments. I prefer Einstein’s view that cooperation is based primarily on trust and only then on reliance on the law. Trust is first and foremost a moral orientation or a social bond with others

Making sense of risk. Donor risk communication in families considering living liverdonation to a child

This paper contributes to the growing line of thought in bioethics that respect for autonomy should not be equated to the facilitation of individualistic self determination through standard requirements of informed consent in all healthcare contexts. The paper describes how in the context of donation for living related liver transplantation (LRLT) meaningful, responsible decision making is often embedded within family processes and its negotiation. We suggest that good donor risk communication in families promote “conscientious autonomy” and “reflective trust”. From this, the paper offers the suggestion that transplant teams and other relevant professionals have to broaden their role and responsibility for risk communication beyond proper disclosure by addressing the impact of varied psychosocial conditions on risk interpretation and assessment for potential donors and family stakeholders. In conclusion, we suggest further research questions on how professional responsibility and role-taking in risk communication should be morally understood

Does Trust Influence Being Generous? An Empirical Study Across Five Countries

This study examines whether social trust, a key aspect of social capital, influences individual generosity behaviors. Previous research has explored the relationship between social capital and philanthropic actions, but comprehensive analyses remain sparse. To address this gap, we employed a dictator game together with trust-related survey questions, collecting data from participants across five countries globally. We categorized trust into four distinct areas: social trust, ingroup trust, outgroup trust, and general trust. Similarly, we divided our dependent variable, generosity, into two types: costly generous and costless generous behaviors. Our findings were mixed and varied by location. Overall, general trust positively influenced both forms of generosity across all our regions. In contrast, social trust predominantly enhanced only costless generous behaviors. Notably, females exhibited lower levels of generosity compared to males across all countries

Blockchain Technology and Trust Relationships in Trade Finance

Blockchain technology has been advocated as a possible solution to enduring trust issues among trading partners in trade finance. We conducted in-depth interviews with industry experts to examine how blockchain technology influences the trust relationships among trading partners. Our results show that the technology enhances trust relationships by (1) improving the security of transactions and data exchanges, (2) facilitating the expression of benevolence, (3) enhancing the efficiency and the quality of communication, and (4) increasing the predictability of trading partners. The paper concludes with implications for both research and practice