Developing trust in close personal relationships: ethnic Chinese’s experiences

ABSTRACT This study seeks to understand and describe the essences of the experience of trust development in close personal relationships. A review of the literature reveals that prior Western studies emphasised the processes of trust development, while prior Chinese studies focused on actions that need to be taken to develop trust. In addition, most prior trust development studies were confined to workplace, exchange and acquaintance relationships. To fill the gaps, this empirical study seeks to understand how trust develops in close relationships between parents and children, married couples, romantic partners and close friends. It employs a qualitative phenomenological method to collect data through in-depth interviews with 14 Chinese adults in Taiwan who have successfully developed trust in these close relationships. The findings revealed that trust development involves not only demonstrating trustworthiness through meeting expectations based on roles, norms and needs but also engaging in effective communication in times of change and conflict. The findings advance the existing knowledge of trust development by providing a comprehensive, action-taking model with applicability to broader close relationships under-studied by prior researchers. They have implications on trust development strategies in the Chinese context that are critical for Westerners to know as they do business with the Chinese.