Toward Understanding and Measuring Conditions of Trust: Evolution of a Conditions of Trust Inventory

Abstract

Ten conditions of trust were suggested by 84 interviews of managers, and two previous studies of managerial trust. Statements made in the interviews and the studies were used to develop a content theory of trust conditions and derive scales measuring them. The scales were generated with an iterative procedure using a total of 1531 management students. The scales were assessed for homogeneity, reliability, and validity with several samples: 180 managers and 173 of their subordinates, 111 machine operators, and four different samples of management students (n = 380, n = 129, n = 290, and n = 132). Construct validity was supported by showing that the scale measures behaved as hypothesized with respect to measures of other variables, a manipulation of expectations, and the reciprocity of trust in vertical dyads.