신뢰, 지식공유 그리고 경제발전

Trust, Knowledge-Sharing and Economic Development

Recent empirical work has shown that trust plays an important role in economic development. However, there has been much less work done investigating the mechanism behind this finding. In this paper, we delve deeper into the mechanism behind that relationship. Specifically, we describe the effect of generalized trust on knowledge-sharing that has a positive and significant effect on economic development. Generalized trust is positively related to knowledge-sharing indicating that organizations with higher levels of trust tend to have higher levels of knowledge-sharing. That is, levels of trust influence the effectiveness of knowledge-sharing and coordinated action in organizations processes. We also go on to show how trust emerges. Some studies found that trust can develop from affective bonds that one shares with others. With affective-based trust, individuals express care and concern for the welfare of their partners and make emotional investment in their relationships. Other research found that trust can also develop from instrumental processing of information about the other party s competence and reliability. Several studies have found support for this affective-based versus cognition-based distinction. However, this study indicates affective and cognitive features both are critical to build trust.