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ESTABLISHING AND ENHANCING TRUST AND CREDIBILITY. Vladimir Ninkovi ć TRANSCONFLICT. Postmodern societies. Tolerating the unexpected Dealing with uncertainties. When do we need trust?. One ’s own i nadequate knowledge and experience – recourse to the third party. Too big or complete tasks.
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ESTABLISHING AND ENHANCING TRUST AND CREDIBILITY Vladimir Ninković TRANSCONFLICT
Postmodern societies • Tolerating the unexpected • Dealing with uncertainties
When do we need trust? • One’s own inadequate knowledge and experience – recourse to the third party. • Too big or complete tasks
Wrong, misleading information Trust erosion • Gaps of knowledge Gaps of trust
Benefits of trust • Lubricating social interactions on various levels so these function smoothly • Reducing social uncertainty and complexity • Important element of social capital • Prerequisite for a healthy and flexible economy and participatory democracy
PUBLIC SECTOR • Public institutions often in role of risk managers. • Trust in public institutions important factor in the perception and acceptability of the risks. • Trust – a key to successful risk communication
Trustworthy communication • Trust : • Expected future actions of third parties • Reliability of information on which current actions are based • No adequate communication / Withholding information distrust
Degree of willingness of the risk givers + Trustworthiness of the trust recipients = Perceived integrity and sincerity
A.Giddens: ‘Within an environment fraught with danger, all mechanisms of trust need to be complemented with tangible trust in persons’. • Trust eases the pressure in the present / Distrust may paralyze all action • Distrust compels the present to engage in a quest for reassuring knowledge and care. • Distrust often may be rational course of action.
Trust Distrust – quick, abrupt process • Distrust Trust – slow, gradual process • Easier to destroy than to create – negative events carry more weight than the positive ones (“Bad news are good news”).
Peculiarities in the area of risk communication I • Building trust is always a hybrid process; there is no clear distinction between “abstract” trust in the system and “tangible” trust in persons. • Trust in abstract systems is not sufficiently grounded in personal or expert knowledge; rather it is based on symbolic indicators of trustworthiness. • Trust requires options for controls and enforcement.
Peculiarities in the area of risk communication II • Whether information is perceived as trustworthy or untrustworthy depends on its source. • Science experts (doubts about their expertise and their integrity) • Industry culprits (assumption of vested interests) • Politicians (perceived as often incapable of action or biased). Confidence and trust of the stakeholders depend on the profit status; the more a particular agent stands to profit from a particular situation, the less trust will be given by the public. • The willingness to trust is dependent on the reporting by the media.
Salient value similarity theory • Earle & Cvetkovich: “People base their trust judgments on whether they feel that the other person or organization shares the same values, or is seen as having the same understanding of a specific situation.”
The importance of full trust • The public does not necessarily expect or see trust as an achievable goal in their relation with institutions • The public has become more competent and knowledgeable enough to have “effective” distrust.
Trust building factors • Caring and empathy • Competence and expertise • Honesty and openness • Dedication and commitment • Technical competence • General trustworthiness dimension, encompassing care for the public interest
Credibility • Refers to the objective and subjective components of the believability of a source or message • Over 50% of credibility is dependent upon whether or not a source or message are perceived as empathetic and caring
Trust and credibility can be built by using support from credible third party sources. • A lower credibility source takes on the credibility of the highest credible source that agrees with its position on an issue. • When a lower credibility source attacks the credibility of a higher credibility source, the lower credibility source losses additional credibility.
Five practical Rules for Building Trust and Credibility (Covello&Allen, 1988) • Accept and involve the public as a partner. • Appreciate the public’s specific concerns. • Be honest and open. • Work with other credible sources. • Meet the needs of the media.
Establishingtheculture of trust • The more pronounced the uncertainty (gap of knowledge), the greater the need to establish a firm base for trust. • The highest priority must be given to transparency, dialogue, participation and fairness. • The best way to build public trust is by assuring that procedures truly involve the public in decision making.