Institutional context of trust

Abstract

The dynamics of trust have perplexed academicians and practitioners alike. However, it continues to remain as an elusive and evasive area of study. The perception of trustworthiness in times of change has social dimensions attached to it. An institutional framework to understand this process of change in conjunction with the traditional theories of trust provides a fresh approach to understand these social intricacies. This paper argues that trust and institutional logics are not monolithic entities. Institutional logics are best understood through mental scripts. A mental script is an individual's socially shared cognitive belief about what is the appropriate social behavior. Mental scripts on the norms of appropriate behavior may vary across the various subgroups within an organization. Such a variance of institutional logics may also explain the varying levels of trust among organizational members.