How do You Measure Trust?: Trust Taxonomies & Measurement Tools Revisited

Abstract

This article, based on literature, is an assembly of various trust taxonomies and measurement tools. Trust is one of the important subjects of many social scientists. Many researchers have examined its impacts on various contexts. In organizations trust helps achieving the desired objectives with reduced costs. Researchers have classified trust in various ways. Trust is a disclosure of weaknesses by a party to another believing that the later would not do any harm to the former. Literature finds numerous classifications of trust, namely, deterrent based trust, knowledge based trust and identification based trust. Some researchers find trust as calculus based, knowledge based and identification based. Cognitive, emotional and benevolence is a classification of trust identified by the social scientists. Trust is also divided into character-based, process-based, and institutional based.  A widely used classification of trust is: Ability based trust, benevolence based trust and integrity based trust. Researchers have used various dimensions and scales of trust and investigated their impacts on various issues of the organizations.