Trust as a Leap of Hope for Transaction Value: A Two-Way Street Above and Beyond Trust Propensity and Expected Trustworthiness

There are two divergent views concerning the status of trust research, one being optimistic and the other being pessimistic. I partially agree with both views, but asymmetrically more toward the pessimistic view. The primary purpose of this chapter is twofold. First, I explore the underlying reasons for the current problems in trust research. Second, I explore the potential solutions to the current problems. The central theme of my argument is that trust should be defined as trustor’s deliberate decision to voluntarily increase trustor’s specific vulnerability toward trustee above and beyond trustor’s propensity to trust as well as above and beyond trustor confident expectation of trustee’s trustworthiness (either due to trustee’s trait-like characters or due to institutional assurance). In this sense, trust should be reframed as a leap of hope to enhance transaction value by taking advantage of vulnerability. This is because the most laudable potential contribution from trust research to other domains of social research may lie in the reframing of high vulnerability from a risk to be avoided to an opportunity to be created and captured. The critical implications of this reframing to advance future trust research are discussed.