Swift trust development and prosocial behavior in time banking: A trust transfer and social support theory perspective

Abstract

Time banking is deemed as a sustainable solution to meet the needs of social services in local communities. This is particularly so for elderly care related services as many countries are experiencing growth in the aged population. Due to the absence of trust, the participation rate in time banking activities has been relatively low, reducing the effectiveness of service exchange. An empirical understanding of how time banking organizers (e.g., NGOs) swiftly cultivate trust is absent in the literature. Within this study, an integrated framework based on trust transfer and social support theories explains how offline and online sources of trust affect individuals’ swift trust in NGOs and subsequent prosocial behavior after a brief exposure. PLS-SEM analysis indicated that online and offline sources of trust, except disposition to trust, significantly influenced swift trust belief, which in turn affected prosocial behavior. Our study provides managerial guidance for organizers promoting time banking programs.