The holistic and contextual natures of trust: past, present, and future research

Abstract

Welcome to the 6th year birthday of Journal of Trust Research! We have published five volumes already. In the past 5 years, we have published 33 regular articles, 12 specialforum articles, and 11 editorial essays, thus a total of 56 pieces. Among the 10 issues within the 5 volumes, we have 2 special issues. It is worth noting that most articles published in JTR either focus primarily on interpersonal trust or institutional trust, so the link between interpersonal trust and institutional trust has not been adequately explored. I am excited to report that the current issue has an article on the very topic. More importantly, I am honoured to report that the most impactful contributions from JTR so far seem to derive from three areas. First, JTR has published some of the most critical articles concerning the methodological issues of trust research. For example, JTR has published three key articles in this area: (1) ‘Measuring trust in organization research: Review and recommendations’ by Bill McEvily and Marco Torroiello (Volume 1, Issue 1, 2011); (2) ‘Development and validation of a propensity to trust scale’ by Lance Frazire, Paul Johnson, and Stav Fainshmidt (Volume 3, Issue 2, 2013); and (3) ‘Why the epistemologies of trust researchers matter’ by Neve Isaeva, Reinhard Bachmann, Alexandra Bristow, and Mark Saunders (Volume 5, Issue 2, 2015). We hope that JTR will continue this lead in publishing articles related to the methodological issues of trust research. Second, JTR has published three sets of debate articles. The first set is concerned with future directions for research on the link between interpersonal trust and institutional trust (the two special-forum debate articles were contributed by Reinhard Bachmann and Graham Dietz, published in Volume 1, Issue 2, 2011). The second set is concerned with the role of trust in government (the two special-forum debate articles were contributed by Russell Hardin and Guido Möllering, published in Volume 3, Issue 1, 2013). The third set is concerned with the institutionalisation of trust research (the special-forum debate articles were contributed by Don Ferrin and Vincenzo Perrone, published in Volume 3, Issue 2, 2013). Such debate articles tend to attract more attention than other articles as reflected in more downloads and more citations. To take full advantage of this special type of article, we will encourage and promote more debates over salient issues of trust research in the future. Third, JTR has published two special issues, both of which are interdisciplinary in nature, which is particularly appropriate given JTR’s role as an interdisciplinary trust journal. The first special issue (Volume 4, Issue 1, 2014) focuses on the role of trust in economics, especially the effect of trust on transaction costs (guest-edited by Guido Möllering). The second special issue (Volume 5, Issue 1, 2015) focuses on the role of trust in international relations (guest-edited by Hiski Haukkala, Johanna Vuorelma, and Carina van de Wetering). To continue our effort to expand the scope of cross-disciplinary coverage, more special issues are being planned, including the forthcoming special issue one concerning the