Trust
Gal Harpaz, The Open University of Israel
doctorharpaz@gmail.com
Trust is a fundamental element in communication that fosters effective collaboration by promoting honesty, transparency, and reliability. When trust is established, information flows more openly, reducing misunderstandings and enhancing teamwork and productivity. Building and maintaining trust requires consistent demonstrations of competence, integrity, and compassion—essential components of strong interpersonal relationships.
Trust enables individuals to express ideas, concerns, and opinions freely, particularly in intercultural settings where sensitivity and openness are crucial. High-trust cultures encourage knowledge sharing, innovation, and structured, cohesive work environments. Trust has a key role in effective communication, also in intercultural and cross-cultural contexts.
Scholars and professionals in communication emphasise that trust is both complex and essential. It has been defined as a willingness to rely on another’s reliability or virtue, a confident expectation of integrity, or a belief in trustworthy behavior. However, broad definitions of trust provide little guidance on how to cultivate it in communication.
Trust is also a fundamental interpersonal relationship in which one party (the truster) engages with another (the trustee) based on the expectation that the trustee will act in a manner beneficial to the truster, thereby demonstrating trustworthiness or credibility. Given that the trustee’s response is never entirely certain, trust inherently involves risk, rendering the truster vulnerable. Consequently, trust can be understood as a forward-looking assessment of another’s contingent behavior. Trust plays a crucial role in the formation of social capital, contributing to greater life satisfaction and a sense of existential security at the individual level. Additionally, at the societal level, trust fosters political stability and economic growth by facilitating cooperation and reducing transaction costs.
Keywords: communication, consonant, truth
Related Entries: Truth
References:
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