A Framework for Exploring Trust and Distrust in Natural Resource Management

Abstract

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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.

Keywords

• trust building
• distrust management
• trust judgments
• trustworthiness
• environmental conflict
• collaboration