Il presente lavoro di tesi intende affrontare un tema non ancora indagato in letteratura, vale a dire l’analisi dei legami tra la comprensione mentalistica e la fiducia relazionale in bambini di scuola elementare. Tale obiettivo è perseguito in tre differenti percorsi di ricerca. Nel primo studio la Candidata ha creato un nuovo strumento di misura della fiducia relazionale nel tentativo di integrare differenti prospettive teoriche che hanno considerato la fiducia o solo come un fenomeno cognitivo o solo affettivo. Lo strumento creato (Trust Story Task), somministrato a bambini di scuola elementare dai 6 ai 10 anni, valuta le rappresentazioni mentali della fiducia intesa in senso cognitivo/mentalistico e affettivo/relazionale. I risultati dello studio mostrano le discrete proprietà psicometriche di affidabilità e validità dello strumento. Nel secondo studio viene proposta la validazione italiana di uno strumento di valutazione delle credenze di fiducia, Children Generalized Trust Beliefs Scale (Rotenberg e al., 2005). La Candidata esamina le principali caratteristiche psicometriche di affidabilità e consistenza interna e di validità dello strumento, utilizzato poi nello studio successivo. La scala tradotta in italiano, CGTB-I, mostra discrete caratteristiche di affidabilità, di consistenza interna e di validità. La struttura fattoriale, valutata tramite alcune EFAs e CFAs, rispecchia solo in parte quella originale di Rotenberg e colleghi (2005) poiché rintraccia le tre basi di fiducia attese (reliability, emotional, honesty), ma non tutti i quattro target relazionali (madre, padre, insegnante, pari). Gli item dell’insegnante, infatti, non risultano essere significativi. Nel terzo studio, l’obiettivo è verificare se le competenze mentalistiche e le credenze di fiducia (nella madre, nel padre e nei pari) siano predittori del comportamento di fiducia e della trustworthiness (attribuzione di fiducia che i compagni fanno rispetto a un compagno target). Le variabili indipendenti dello studio saranno considerate sia in termini individuali sia in combinazione statistica tra loro nel predire. I risultati mostrano che una buona teoria della mente e delle buone credenze di fiducia predicono in modo significativo la trustworthiness. / This thesis considers the link between theory of mind and interpersonal trust in three different studies. First chapter outlines the crucial theoretical reflections on two constructs starting from theory of mind. First of all, I consider the meaning of the term “theory of mind”, the functions of this ability and same questions linked to terminology more often used. Moreover, I deal with the development of this ability in elementary school children, and then the most important theories on theory of mind development. As regards to the interpersonal trust, I consider the three main fields of research concerning trust as cognitive, affective and behavioural phenomenon. First paragraph shows the cognitive theories of trust that, overall, define it in term of individual’s beliefs on other’s reliability. In a second paragraph, I trait the affective face of trust starting from the point of view of the attachment theory; and, finally, in a third paragraph, I expose the studies of behavioural aspects of trust. In the second chapter, I present a first contribution of validation of a semi-projective task on trust dimension: the Trust Story task. The aim of this measure is to evaluates the mental representation of trust both in a mentalistic and in an affective sense, considering jointly conscious and unconscious aspects and adapted to subjects’ age and gender. In particular, in my first study, I considered some characteristics of this new measure, which are reliability and construct validity. In the third chapter, I present two studies linked each other. In the first of them, I deal with the Italian validation of the Children Generalized Trust Beliefs Scale (Rotenberg et a., 2005), questionnaire that evaluate three bases of trust beliefs (reliability, emotional, honesty) in four targets (mother, father, teacher and peer). The original version of the scale demonstrated good psychometric characteristics and an excellent flexibility of use. The CGTB-I scale derived was used in the second study that I propose in this chapter in which I examine if children’s theory of mind and their trust beliefs in others, individually, and in combination, statistically account for trustworthiness and trustworthy behaviour in children.

This article attempts to observe the existence of certain similarities between trust that can be established between individuals and their local political institution, with habitual ways of relating that adjoin political clientelism. Certain similarities that point to question whether clientelism can be accommodated as a way to build relationships, create links and bring the individual to the political institution. The local political institution will be studied, and observe how relations have been builtin two districts of the same geographical area, through qualitative and quantitative tools. It will be noted that the usual way of relating learned still present and mobilizes the ways of acting individuals / therefore links with clientelistic characteristics are plausible to generate trust relationships. / El presente artículo trata de observar la existencia de ciertas similitudes entre las relaciones de confianza que puedan establecerse entre los individuos y su institución política local, con formas habituales de relacionarse que lindan con el clientelismo político. Se observarán ciertas semejanzas que apuntan a cuestionar si el clientelismo puede tener cabida como una forma de establecer relaciones, crear vínculos y acercar la institución política al individuo. Se observará la construcción de relaciones y vínculos en dos distritos de un mismo estrato zonal en Lima Metropolitana, a través de herramientas cualitativas y cuantitativas. Se notará que la forma habitual de relacionarse aprendida sigue presente y moviliza las formas de actuar a los individuos / por tanto los vínculos con características clientelaresson plausibles de generar relaciones de confianza.

Na década de 1990, emergiu uma numerosa literatura abordando os efeitos da confiança interpessoal no crescimento econômico dos países. Teoricamente, a confiança afeta o crescimento econômico por afetar as decisões que envolvem incerteza acerca das ações futuras de outros agentes, como: investimentos, contratações de trabalhadores, inovação, dentre outras. Este trabalho utiliza a metodologia corrente nesta literatura, avaliando o papel da confiança no crescimento econômico em um cross section de países para três períodos, utilizando informações, principalmente, das Penn World Tables, World Values Survey e dados de educação da UNESCO. Aplicando a técnica de least trimmed squares é avaliada a robustez da variável confiança quando se retiram observações aberrantes. Encontra-se que a confiança tem um efeito considerável no crescimento econômico, mesmo quando outliers são removidos. Também são realizados exercícios para a correção de possíveis problemas de endogeneidade da variável de confiança. Além disso, o trabalho analisa os determinantes da confiança individual, utilizando um modelo probit cujas variáveis explicativas são: renda, escolaridade, idade, país, religião, dentre outras. Este exercício também é feito para analisar o caso brasileiro. Encontra-se que a confiança é uma variável que depende mais da sociedade ou do grupo que das características individuais e, para o caso brasileiro, verificou-se que independentemente de gênero, escolaridade ou renda, as pessoas não confiam nos demais. / In the 1990\'s a large number of works came out investigating the effects of interpersonal trust on the economic growth of countries. Theoretically, trust affects economic growth by affecting all decisions that involve uncertainty on future actions of other agents, such as: investments, hire of employees, innovation, among others. This study uses the current literature methodology, tackling the trust importance for economic growth on a cross section of countries for three periods, using informations mainly from the Penn World Tables, World Values Survey and educational data from UNESCO. Applying the least trimmed squares technique it is evaluated the robustness of the trust variable when influential observations are excluded. It is found a remarkable estimated effect of trust on economic growth, even when outliers are removed. Also some studies are made in order to correct for possible endogeneity problems of the trust variable. Moreover, the work analyses the determinants of individual trust, using a probit model with the regressors: income, schooling, age, country, religion, among others. This analysis is also applied for the brazilian case. It is found that trust depends more on the society or group than on individual characteristics and, for the brazilian case, it was observed that, no matter which gender, schooling or income level the person belongs to, people do not trust each other.

Trust is necessary for human interactions. It provides the ability to participate in risky behaviors without engaging in a laborious risk-benefit analysis about the situation at hand. The introduction of information and communication technologies has brought about new ways of communicating (e.g., text messaging, video conferencing). Despite the benefits stemming from the ability to communicate through technology, the lower quality and quantity of communication cues exchanged during a technology-mediated interaction can hamper the development of trust. This study examined the relationship between interpersonal trust and trust in technology during a technology-mediated dyadic interaction and aimed to determine whether interpersonal trust and trust in technology had different relationships with outcomes of interest. The Mayer et al. (1995) interpersonal trust model was augmented by including trust in technology. To test the hypothesized relationships between interpersonal trust, trust in technology, collaboration and performance, an interchangeable member dyadic path model was fit to the data. Three alternative models were fit to the data. Results revealed that interpersonal trust impacted trust in technology, which in turn impacts collaboration behaviors. Both types of trust had an effect on intentions to continue the interpersonal interaction and intentions to use the technology in the future, however interpersonal trust had a stronger influence on both intentions. The results of the study help us understand how trust operates in technology-mediated environment. Future research should focus on examining how interpersonal trust and trust in technology unfold over time.

Wisdom, though ancient in concept, has only recently grown in empirical research. Often seen as the pinnacle of human development, wisdom includes the key aspects of exceptional insight, reflection, discernment, knowledge, and judgment, which are required for guiding the long-term future of an organization. Wisdom is believed to enhance an organization's ability to work towards multiple goals simultaneously, assist in appropriately assigning priorities, and lessen the organization's reliance on guidance or rules. Utilizing simultaneous regression analysis, available through partial least squares modeling, this research study included 230 full time non-instructional staff from both a traditional university setting and numerous branch offices. The collective wisdom of individuals in a business setting, measured as a composite of the three dimensions (cognitive, affective and reflective), significantly increased team cohesiveness, cognitive-based and affective-based interpersonal trust, and intrinsic job satisfaction. The reflective wisdom factor of lack of self-pity or resentment provided the largest effect upon all three organizational measures. Perspective-taking significantly increased both team cohesiveness and all four aspects of emotional intelligence. Though emotional intelligence did have many significant relationships with wisdom, it was not determined to serve as a mediating variable.

The purpose of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of the effects of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) on trust and organizational innovation on micro and macro levels. Since earlier studies of M&As have focused mostly on financial aspects, this study aims to contribute to the understanding of non-financial and organizational aspects of M&As including trust and organizational innovation, especially through microfoundational explanation. According to this, trust is studied by focusing on two specific aspects: interpersonal trust (on individual level) and institutional trust (on the firm level). The organizational innovation is defined as a single concept but is studied both on individual and firm level. The research is conducted by focusing on eight Northern European companies that have gone through M&As and the related data is collected by using qualitative surveys, which included both free-text fields and the opinion scales. The empirics of this study show that M&As have affected trust and organizational innovation through six main factors (CIRCUS) which include communication, employees’ influence, resources, workplace cohesion, capabilities utilization,and streamlining the working methods. Based on this, the findings of the study indicate thatthere is a clear connection between trust and organizational innovation and that the M&As arehaving negative effects on both.

Beyond the material consequences, violence can have a great psychological impact on the individual. Violence can cause institutional and interpersonal distrust, and in turn harm economic growth and political stability. As of today, there is more knowledge about the consequences of trust than its determinants, and longitudinal studies are scarce. This paper exploits survey data and disaggregated data on violence from Mexico, a country which since 2007 has experienced a rapid increase in violence. With the use of a Linear Fixed Effects Model, I analyse the impact of municipal level violence on trust in crime-related institutions and in other individuals. I find a significant relationship, robust across different model specifications, between exposure to battles and trust in the federal, state, and municipal police forces. This positive effect is also found for battles involving police forces. Furthermore, I find evidence of a negative relationship between riots and interpersonal trust.

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This study aims to investigate whether, and how, the use of performance measures, procedural justice, and interpersonal trust interact to affect organisational commitment of police officers. Drawing on a survey based on a sample of 57 senior officers within a single police force, we find that the use of performance measures, procedural justice, and interpersonal trust are positively associated with organisational commitment. Further analysis reveals that trust between officer and superior mediates the relationship between the use of non-financial measures and organisational commitment, but procedural justice does not have a mediating effect on commitment. These findings are further explored through selected interviews with respondents.

No / This chapter seeks to clarify the definition of trust and its conceptualization specifically at the team or workgroup level, as well as discussing the similarities and differences between interpersonal and team level trust. Research on interpersonal trust has shown that individual perceptions of others trustworthiness and their willingness to engage in trusting behavior when interacting with them are largely history‐dependent processes. Thus, trust between two or more interdependent individuals develops as a function of their cumulative interaction. The chapter describes a multilevel framework with individual, team and organizational level determinants and outcomes of team trust. It aims to clarify core variables and processes underlying team trust and to develop a better understanding of how these phenomena operate in a system involving the individual team members, the team self and the organizational contexts in which the team operates. The chapter concludes by reviewing and proposing a number of directions for future research and future‐oriented methodological recommendations.