Trust, Trustworthiness, and Motivation in the Natural Resource Management Context

Trust is critical for natural resource management. In recognition of this, a noteworthy body of literature has investigated the construct but is, as yet, relatively immature. The current research seeks to integrate the... [ view full abstract ]

Trust is critical for natural resource management. In recognition of this, a noteworthy body of literature has investigated the construct but is, as yet, relatively immature. The current research seeks to integrate the ostensibly disparate perspectives into a unified model that is attentive to the major advances in not only the NRM literature but in the social psychological literature addressing trust more generally as well. To that end, the current paper tests the proposed model with a large sample of Michigan hunters (n = 23,954). The analyses suggest that, as hypothesized, the theoretical model is a statistically defensible account of trust in the NRM context and are suggestive of important roles for trust-as-attitude and trust-as-choice in driving both cooperation intention and behavior. As a result, the current work suggests that although it is important for NRM institutions to attend to their trustworthiness, they should not ignore perceptions of the benefits they provide.