A Framework for Exploring Trust and Distrust in Natural Resource Management

• Main Authors: Jens Emborg, Steven E. Daniels, Gregg B. Walker
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-04-01
• Series: Frontiers in Communication
• Subjects: trust building; distrust management; trust judgments; trustworthiness; environmental conflict; collaboration
• Online Access: https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fcomm.2020.00013/full

How can one simultaneously hold multiple trust judgments—some positive, some negative—and what relevance does this have to natural resource management processes? The paper examines trust through a lens of multiple simultaneous trust judgments, with application to the literature on trust in natural resource management. The conceptual contributions are (1) a clear distinction between trust and distrust, (2) how multiple trust/distrust judgments can co-exist, and (3) how multiple trust judgments can be assigned to individual vs. social/institutional scales. A framework for trust/distrust evaluation emerges in the form of a Trust/Distrust Matrix. One dimension of the matrix is the scales to which trust judgments may be assigned and one is the trust/distrust-judgments one makes that can either be calculus-based or identification-based. A set of propositions relevant to natural resource management are derived from the matrix. The fundamental purpose of this article is to bridge theory and practice.