A Treatise on Interpretation, Viewpoint and Perspectives on Trust

Abstract

`Trust' is being studied from multiple angles by many disciplines, and hence many definitions of trust exist (Corazzini, Psychological Reports, 40:75-80, 1977). Numerous research projects have been done and continue to be done on trust by researchers all around the world. Here we argue trust to be of a multidimensional nature, portrayed at various levels: individual, organisational and societal or economic. There is no consensus on whether trust is an abstract quality, a concept, a decision, some neuropeptide in the brain, or all of them or none of them. As we dig further into the trust literature, we find more and more angles from which trust is being and has been studied, but all reflect each researcher's own individual approach, with no literature having a full unanimous view on trust. Here we try to collate the studies on trust.