Intellectual structure of trust in business and management: a co-citation analysis
| Date | 06 June 2016 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EL-07-2014-0121 |
| Published date | 06 June 2016 |
| Pages | 358-370 |
| Author | Keng-Chieh Yang |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
Intellectual structure of trust in
business and management:
a co-citation analysis
Keng-Chieh Yang
Department of Information Management,
Hwa Hsia University of Technology, New Taipei City, Taiwan
Abstract
Purpose – In the past few decades, there has been a lot of literature about trust research for business
and management. However, few authors have applied co-citation analysis.
Design/methodology/approach – Trust is one of the most discussed issues in management, as it
has proved to have an essential role in business operations. In this study, all citation documents are
included in Thomson Reuters ISI Web of Knowledge database from 1992 to 2010.
Findings – By using statistics analysis including factor analysis, cluster analysis and
multidimensional scaling, researchers identied four domains, including organizational behaviour,
strategic alliance, marketing and social capital. Directions for future research are discussed.
Originality/value – This study is the rst to apply co-citation techniques in the elds of trust.
Therefore, the major contribution of this study is to provide an intellectual structure and trends within
the eld of trust from an objective and quantitative perspective.
Keywords SSCI, Trust, Co-citation analysis, Business and management,
ISI web of knowledge database
Paper type Literature review
Introduction
Trust is a fundamental factor and also the primary mechanism in many economic
activities when establishing interpersonal cooperation (Bradach and Eccles, 1989). In
business relationships, the extent of trust inuence plays a crucial role that can lead to
the achievement of success. For instance, mutual commitment in relationship,
uncertainty in decision-making and the transaction cost all rely on trust (Zaheer et al.,
1998).
Practitioners often view trust as the most important factor for a business to be
successful. Researchers also acknowledge that informal trust relationships can be
widespread and important for businesses. Furthermore, in a highly dynamic and
uncertain environment, trust can increase organizational and interpersonal efciency
(Gulati, 1995). As a solution for complex realities, trust is seen as a necessary antecedent
for cooperation and leads to the constructive and cooperative behaviour vital for
long-term relationships (Morgan and Hunt, 1994). Rousseau et al. (1998, p. 393) dened
trust as “the willingness to assume that a partner will bear the vulnerability stemming
from the acceptance of risk”. Even though trust has been seen as a critical element of
This research was partially supported by Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan. Research
grant no. NSC 99-2410-H-146-003 and MOST 104-2410-H-146-001.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0264-0473.htm
EL
34,3
358
Received 27 July 2014
Revised 5 December 2014
26 January 2015
Accepted 6 May 2015
TheElectronic Library
Vol.34 No. 3, 2016
pp.358-370
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0264-0473
DOI 10.1108/EL-07-2014-0121
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