Trust in authorities monitoring the distribution of genetically modified foods: dimensionality, measurement issues, and determinants

Based on a combined internet and mail survey in Germany the independence of indica-tors of trust in public authorities from indicators of attitudes toward genetically modified food is tested. Despite evidence of a link between trust indicators on the one hand and evaluation of benefits and perceived likelihoods of risks, correlation with other factors is found to be moderate on average. But the trust indicators exhibit only a moderate relation with the re-spondents’ preference for either sole public control or a cooperation of public and private bodies in the monitoring of GM food distribution. Instead, age and location in either the New or the Old Lander are found to be significantly related with such preferences.

GM food purchase intentions: linking the theory of planned behaviour with consumer trust and stated choice

After the “European” experience of BSE and further food safety crises consumer trust is playing an increasingly important role in political and marketing decision making. This also relates to the area of consumer acceptance of GM food. This paper integrates consumer trust with the theory of planned behavior and a stated choice model to gain a more complete picture of consumer decision making. Preliminary results indicate that when GM products offer practical benefits to consumers acceptance may increase considerably. Furthermore, both trust and perceived benefits contribute significantly to explaining the level of acceptance.

The perceived impact of the National Health Service on personalised nutrition service delivery among the UK public

Personalised nutrition (PN) has the potential to reduce disease risk and optimise health and performance. Although previous research has shown good acceptance of the concept of PN in the UK, preferences regarding the delivery of a PN service (e.g. online v. face-to-face) are not fully understood. It is anticipated that the presence of a free at point of delivery healthcare system, the National Health Service (NHS), in the UK may have an impact on end-user preferences for deliverances. To determine this, supplementary analysis of qualitative data obtained from focus group discussions on PN service delivery, collected as part of the Food4Me project in the UK and Ireland, was undertaken. Irish data provided comparative analysis of a healthcare system that is not provided free of charge at the point of delivery to the entire population. Analyses were conducted using the 'framework approach' described by Rabiee (Focus-group interview and data analysis. Proc Nutr Soc 63, 655-660). There was a preference for services to be led by the government and delivered face-to-face, which was perceived to increase trust and transparency, and add value. Both countries associated paying for nutritional advice with increased commitment and motivation to follow guidelines. Contrary to Ireland, however, and despite the perceived benefit of paying, UK discussants still expected PN services to be delivered free of charge by the NHS. Consideration of this unique challenge of free healthcare that is embedded in the NHS culture will be crucial when introducing PN to the UK.

Trust in the German police

The relative levels of trust in the police are explored, using data from the fifth round of the European Social Survey (ESS) which covered mainly 28 European countries. In this article, the position of Germany is examined within the international context. German trust in the police, for both German natives and ethnic minorities, for those 15 and over is high in comparison to other European countries. The article also tests if it is the fair treatment of citizens by the police, or the high value placed on rule adherence and conformity, that is driving the German citizen’s trust. It shows that the German police is trusted due to their perceived fairness, effectiveness and shared moral values, rather than on value placed on conformity to authority.

Nurses' perceived training needs in child protection issues

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to explore nurses' perceptions of their current skills and knowledge and training needs to identify cases of child abuse and their understanding of their roles and responsibilities in relation to child abuse. Nurses, including health visitors and midwives, have been recognised as having a key role in the protection and care of children, especially in identifying and referring possible cases of child abuse and neglect.

Design/methodology/approach – A structured questionnaire concerning knowledge and training needs in child protection was sent to all nurses employed in a Scottish NHS Primary Care Trust (approximately 1,900), of whom one-third (667) responded. These survey results were complemented by semi-structured interviews with 99 members of the nursing workforce.

Findings – Almost all training in child protection had been confined to health visitors, resulting in the Trust giving an implicit message that child protection is not a role in which other nurses need have any involvement. In general, those nurses who both worked with children and had involvement in child protection issues, considered themselves to be most in need of knowledge around child protection work, to have the greatest level of knowledge and to consider further training a priority.

Research limitations/implications – Nurses who had an interest or involvement in child protection work were more likely to participate in the research, which may have biased the results.

Practical implications – Training strategies need to address the diversity of nurses' involvements in child protection work through the development of training programmes which are appropriate for different workplaces and different occupational groupings. Nurses in some settings will need to be first convinced they have the potential to play an important role in protecting children from abuse and neglect.

Originality/value – Many NHS Trusts have in recent years introduced mandatory training in child protection for all staff in contact with children. However, previously published studies have considered training issues only in respect of nurses identified as working directly with children, whereas this study explores child protection issues for all nurses employed in a primary care NHS Trust.

Interpersonal trust and control behaviour of Chinese managers

Interpersonal trust is believed to influence the management and control of organisations in China. China's importance as a host country for foreign direct investments (FDIs) through multinational company subsidiaries (MNCs) and international joint ventures (IJVs) is growing rapidly. MNCs and INs located in China often employ local Chinese managers to control their subsidiaries or ventures. This makes it essential for designers of management control systems to have an understanding of the interpersonal trust-sensitive control behaviour of Chinese managers. One of the important aspects of control behaviour is how managers control their subordinates.

This paper examines the relationship between Chinese managers' trust in subordinates and their (Chinese managers') control behaviour towards the subordinates. On the basis of a questionnaire survey of a cohort of managers from Beijing, the study explores the effects of trust on the use of social controls, formal controls, and monitoring.

The findings of this study indicate that a manager's high (low) trust in a subordinate is associated with a low (high) level of monitoring, a high (high) level of social control and a high (low) level of perceived performance. The hypothesis that a superior's high (low) level of trust is associated with a low (high) level of reliance on formal controls was not supported. These findings, while indicative of control behaviour of Chinese managers in particular, also add to the growing academic literature on trust and control in general. In a practical sense, an
understanding of the trust-sensitive control behaviour of Chinese managers is particularly useful in designing and implementing effective control systems for international organisations operating in China.

Project team trust in leadership and leader values

This international research showed that when senior leaders' values and behaviours were perceived as being congruent by project teams, there was enrichment of interpersonal relationships and a reinforcement of relational trust. Conversely, when leaders' values and behaviours were perceived as not congruent, they were considered to lack integrity and trustworthiness.

Transfer of electronic commerce trust between brick-and-mortar and online business environments

Through experimentation, we establish a causal relationship between trust and the expansion of a retailer from online to brick-and-mortar and vice versa. Trust is multidimensional and contingent on the distribution path first chosen. Vendor trustworthiness (knowledge-based) and technological trustworthiness (institution-based) have different effects depending on the initial and new distribution channel. Expanding from brick-and-mortar to online negatively affects technology-based trust, while transfers from an online to a physical location maintain the same level of technology-based trust. Vendor-based trust is positively affected by transfer from online to the brick-and-mortar location, and is not significantly unaffected by transfers from brick and-mortar to online locations. The perceived “permanence” of a physical location influences consumer beliefs about the location’s trustworthiness.

Educational inequalities in women's depressive symptoms : the mediating role of perceived neighbourhood characteristics

Socio-economically disadvantaged (e.g., less educated) women are at a greater risk of depression compared to less disadvantaged women. However, little is known regarding the factors that may explain socioeconomic inequalities in risk of depression. This study aimed to investigate the contribution of perceived neighbourhood factors in mediating the relationship between education and women’s risk of depression. Cross-sectional data were provided by 4,065 women (aged 18–45). Women self-reported their education level, depressive symptoms (CES-D 10), as well as four neighbourhood factors (i.e., interpersonal trust, social cohesion, neighbourhood safety, and aesthetics). Single and multiple mediating analyses were conducted. Clustering by neighbourhood of residence was adjusted by using a robust estimator of variance. Multiple mediating analyses revealed that interpersonal trust was the only neighbourhood characteristic found to partly explain the educational inequalities in women’s depressive symptoms. Social cohesion, neighbourhood aesthetics and safety were not found to mediate this relationship. Acknowledging the cross-sectional nature of this study, findings suggest that strategies to promote interpersonal trust within socioeconomically disadvantaged neighbourhoods may help to reduce the educational inequalities in risk of depression amongst women. Further longitudinal and intervention studies are needed to confirm these findings.

Police Misconduct as a Breach of Public trust: the Offence of Misconduct in Public Office

Until relatively recently, the common law offence of misconduct in public office has been regarded as anachronistic. The offence was perceived to have been supplanted by specific statutory offences that could more appropriately deal with criminal conduct by public officials. However, there has been a revival of the offence with successful prosecutions occurring in Australia, England and Hong Kong. Many of these contemporary cases have involved police officers. Examination of these cases reveals that the circumstances in which misconduct in public office has been identified have been diverse, including the unauthorised disclosure of confidential information, the use of false search warrants and the sexual exploitation of vulnerable persons. In many instances, police officers were charged with other criminal offences in addition to charges relating to misconduct in public office. The matters prosecuted as misconduct in public office typically involved matters that were serious and/or could not be adequately prosecuted as other criminal offences or as breaches of police regulations governing conduct. Consequently, despite the proliferation of statutory criminal offences in the 20th century it appears that there continues to be a place for the offence of misconduct in public office. It criminalises misconduct by police officers that may not be adequately dealt with by other offences and recognises the public trust dimension of wrongdoing by these officials. However, a continuing and fundamental challenge is to determine the appropriate definition and scope of the offence.

Law, Informal Institutions and Trust: an Experimental Perspective

This dissertation has studied how legal and non-legal mechanisms affect the levels of trust and trustworthiness in an economy, and whether and when subtle psychological factors are crucial for establishing trust and even for recovering trust from a breach of contract. The first Chapter has addressed the question of whether formal legal enforcement crowds out or crowds in the amount of trust in a society. We find that formal legal mechanisms, especially formal contracts backed by a powerful authority, normally undermine trust except when they are perceived as legitimate, or when there are no strong social norms of fairness (i.e. the population in a society is considerably heterogeneous), or when the environment in which repeated commercial relationships take place becomes highly uncertain. The second Chapter has examined whether the endogenous adoption of a collective punishment institution can help a society coordinate on an efficient outcome, characterized by high levels of trust and trustworthiness. The experimental results show that the endogenous introduction of collective punishment by means of a majority-voting rule does not significantly improve coordination on the efficient equilibrium. Not all subjects seem to be able to anticipate the change in behavior induced by the introduction of the mechanism, and a majority of them vote against it. The third Chapter has explored whether high-trustors adapt their behavior in response to others’ trustworthiness or untrustworthiness more quickly, which in turn supports them to maintain higher default expectations of others’ trustworthiness relative to low-trustors. Our experimental results reveal that high-trustors are better than low-trustors at predicting others’ trustworthiness because they are less susceptible to the anticipated aversive emotions aroused by the potential betrayal and thereby have a higher willingness to acquire the valuable information about their partner’s actions.

Patterns and Correlates of Expressed Emotion, Perceived Criticism, and Rearing Style in First Admitted Early-Onset Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders

The aim of this study was to assess patterns and correlates of family variables in 31 adolescents treated for their first episode of a schizophrenia spectrum disorder (early-onset schizophrenia [EOS]). Expressed emotion, perceived criticism, and rearing style were assessed. Potential correlates were patient psychopathology, premorbid adjustment, illness duration, quality of life (QoL), sociodemographic variables, patient and caregiver "illness concept," and caregiver personality traits and support. Families were rated as critical more frequently by patients than raters (55% vs. 13%). Perceived criticism was associated with worse QoL in relationship with parents and peers. An adverse rearing style was associated with a negative illness concept in patients, particularly with less trust in their physician. Future research should examine perceived criticism as a predictor of relapse and indicator of adolescents with EOS who need extended support and treatment. Rearing style should be carefully observed because of its link with patients' illness concept and, potentially, to service engagement and medication adherence

Test of a mediation model of perceived organisational support

This study examined the mediating influence of trust in organization (TIO) and organization-based self-esteem (OBSE) on the relationship between perceived organization support (POS) and its work outcomes. Data were obtained from employee–supervisor dyads from multiple organizations located in a major city in southern China. Structural equation modeling results revealed that: (a) POS related to TIO and OBSE and (b) TIO and OBSE fully mediated the relationship between POS and the work outcomes of organizational commitment and in-role performance, but partially mediated the POS–organizational citizenship behavior relationship.

Uneasy lies the head that bears the trust:the effects of feeling trusted on emotional exhaustion

The construct of feeling trusted reflects the perception that another party is willing to accept vulnerability to one's actions. Although this construct has received far less attention than trusting, the consensus is that believing their supervisors trust them has benefits for employees' job performance. Our study challenges that consensus by arguing that feeling trusted can be exhausting for employees. Drawing on Stevan Hobfoll's conservation of resources theory, we develop a model in which feeling trusted fills an employee with pride a benefit for exhaustion and performance while also increasing perceived workload and concerns about reputation maintenance burdens for exhaustion and performance. We test our model in a field study using a sample of public transit bus drivers in London, England. Our results suggest that feeling trusted is a double-edged sword for job performance, bringing with it both benefits and burdens. Given that recommendations for managers generally encourage placing trust in employees, these results have important practical implications.

A tranzakciós költségek elmélete és a társadalmi csereelmélet hatásai a bizalomra az ellátási láncban (Affects of Transaction cost and Social Exchange Constructs on trust In supply chain relationship)

A szerzők alapvető feltételezése, hogy az ellátási láncban a bizalom ösztönzi a felek közötti elkötelezettséget. Továbbá a bizalom növeli annak a lehetőségét, hogy az ellátási lánc sikeresen működjön. Ugyanakkor, a felek közötti bizalom hiánya gyakran megnöveli a tranzakciós költségeket, és így csökkenti a hatékonyságot. A cikkben bemutatott kutatás adatgyűjtésére több országban – Franciaországban, Magyarországon, Dél-Koreában, Tunéziában és az Egyesült Államokban – került sor. Összesen 729 érvényes kérdőív érkezett vissza, amelyeket a különböző ellátási láncok résztvevői töltöttek ki. A kutatási eredmények szerint az ellátási láncokon belüli üzleti kapcsolatokban a tranzakciós költségek elméletének összetevői (kapcsolatspecifikusság és viselkedési bizonytalanság), valamint a társadalmi csereelmélet tényezői (lecserélhetőség, észlelt megelégedettség, a partner hírneve és észlelt konfliktus) szoros kapcsolatban állnak a bizalom és az elkötelezettség változóival. _____ This article is based on the assumption that trust promotes commitment between partners in the supply chain and improves the chances of return on supply chain success. In contrast, a lack of trust between them often increases transaction costs and results in inefficiency. The results of this research, based on multi-country surveys with 729 returns from France, Hungary, Korea, Tunisia and the United States on supply chain professionals, reveals a strong affect of transaction cost constructs (TCC) (asset specificity and behavioral uncertainty) and social exchange constructs (SEC) (replaceability, perceived satisfaction, partner reputation, and perceived conflict) on trust-commitment variables in partnership based supply chain relationships. This paper employed a structural equation model to extract information from the survey data. Among the findings, the research indicates that a firm’s trustcommitment in dealing with their supply chain partnership is highly associated with not only transaction cost, but more so with social exchange variables. This study may open a new research avenue in that there is another construct, SEC, beside TSC that influences the degree of trust and commitment.