The paper reports on an online survey that set out to identify some of the factors of trusting. The survey was open to all nationalities and asked a broad variety of questions regarding individual choices of trusting.
The authors give a brief overview of trust in different disciplines and argue that defining trust as an action provides a new platform for examining our relationships inside and outside organisations. Trusting as action signals the possibility of individual choices, new decisions and the potential for building more meaningful relationships.
This paper identifies a set of factors that can form a basis for personal reflection and also provide a starting point for an organisational review of relationships in the workplace. Such a review is particularly valuable when members of the organisation come from different cultural background. Understanding our factors of trusting is the first step towards appreciating the needs of others in long term relationship building.
The authors suggest that a more in depth survey could ascertain the validity of this pilot study. Understanding our own factors of trusting will enable us to recognise and accommodate the needs of others and build trusting relationships both in national and in international business
