Does knowledge explain trust behaviors and outcomes? The different influences of initial knowledge and experiential knowledge on personal trust interactions

Abstract

This paper examines the influences of initial knowledge and experiential knowledge on trust behaviors and trust outcomes, respectively, at an interpersonal level. We use an experimental dynamic trust game, and our results show that (1) the initial knowledge that exists a priori between a trustor and a trustee helps to explain the trustor's trust behaviors toward the trustee, and (2) the experiential knowledge gained directly by a trustor during a specific trust interaction with a trustee influences the trust outcome, i.e. the difference between the original expectations of the trustor and the subsequent trust behaviors. Our results contribute to human resource literature by clarifying the specific influences of different types of knowledge on interpersonal trust relationships (e.g. between managers and employees) and by supplementing the traditional notion that trust within a firm develops slowly by showing that personal expectations have an immediate and important influence on trust output.

Keywords::

• experiential knowledge
• initial knowledge
• interpersonal trust
• trust behavior
• trust outcome

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the two anonymous referees and the editor of this manuscript, Prof. Michael Dickmann, for their valuable comments aimed at improving the initial state of this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education [grant number ECO2010-20483]; the Regional Government of Andalusia [grant number SEJ-3765].