Building Trust in Economic Space

Abstract

While there is widespread recognition of the importance and role of trust in facilitating regional development, technology transfer, and agglomeration economies, the concept remains rather undertheorized within economic geography and regional science. This paper reviews and assesses the literature on the role and constitution of trust for economic and industrial development and presents a conceptualization of the trust building process that accounts for the influences of agency, institutions, materials, and interpersonal expression. In doing so, geographic concerns about the role of space and context are linked to economic and sociological conceptualizations of trust and to scholarship from actor-network theory (ANT) and social psychology regarding the influence of power, non-human intermediaries, and performance on social outcomes and network configurations. The result is a heuristic framework for analyzing trust-building processes as temporally and spatially situated social phenomena shaped by context-specific subjective, intersubjective, and structural factors. The conceptualization’s broader significance lies not in detailing the many factors that influence trust but in its contextualization of the micro-social processes that can strengthen business relationships. In doing so, the framework can facilitate a move beyond solely instrumental conceptualizations of trust and toward a relational understanding of how the means for establishing and sustaining trust influence the development and potential of such ‘ends’ as clusters and production networks.

Industry clusters: an antidote for knowledge sharing and collaborative innovation?

“…To enable co-operation and collaboration, trust has been identified as a fundamental characteristic of business networks which can significantly influence the quality of information and knowledge flows between business people (Murphy, 2006). Trust has also been identified as an important prerequisite for developing interorganisational relationships that facilitate interfirm knowledge exchange (Fukuyama, 1995).…”

“…Thus, once trust has been invested it is rational to rely on relationships where it has been developed (Fafchamps, 2001). Murphy (2006) points out that this can make it difficult however, for newcomers to intervene or 'tap into' established relationships where trust has been developed even if they have price, cost advantages or information.…”

The Trust Levels, Trust Determinants, and Spatial Dimensions in Inter-Firm Relationships: A Warehousing Firm’s Perspective in the City of Busan, South Korea

“…As contractual trust pertains to a kind of agreement documented between firms, if the contractual firms do not comply to this type of agreement they are subjected to legal sanctions. In this context, the macro level trust is similar to the calculus-based trust of Lewicki and Bunker (1996) and the macro scale trust (the structural or institutional) by Murphy (2006). Accordingly, the macro level trust rests on beliefs in formal norms and institutions or in the ability to govern them.…”

“…Despite the complex character of trust, however, previous research suggests that trust building processes between firms may drive and shape by influence at three levels: the macro level, the meso level, and the micro level [21][22][23].…”

“…[25]. The meso level trust can be considered as the knowledge-based trust conceptualized by Lewicki and Bunker (1996) and the meso scale trust (intersubjective) by Murphy (2006) because these trusts have a major interest in the process, being progressively realized through interactions [26].…”