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Trust in Context: A Three-Factor Experimental Study
1School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Harbin Engineering University, No. 145, Nantong Street, Nangang District, Harbin 150001, China.
Behavioral Sciences (Basel, Switzerland)
|June 26, 2026
Summary
Trust intention is shaped by who you know, the importance of the matter, and the trustee's character. These factors interact, showing trust is contextual, not linear.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Behavioral Economics
- Decision Sciences
Background:
- Existing trust research often overlooks context and multi-factor interactions.
- Rational choice theory and relational logic inadequately explain trust dynamics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how relationship type, entrusted matter, and trustee attributes influence trust intention.
- To examine the interactive effects of these factors on trust.
Main Methods:
- A within-subjects situational experiment with 252 participants.
- Manipulation of relationship type, entrusted matter value, and trustee attributes.
- Analysis using Friedman test and Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE).
Main Results:
- Trust intention is significantly affected by relationship type, entrusted matter importance, and trustee attributes.
- Significant interaction effects were found among these three factors.
- Trust is demonstrated to be a contextual outcome influenced by multiple interacting elements.
Conclusions:
- Trust intention is not a linear result but a contextual outcome.
- Relationship type, entrusted matter, and trustee attributes jointly shape trust.
- This study offers contextualized evidence on trust formation.
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