Trust Ambivalence in the Balance between Trust and Distrust: The Case of Sino-Western Alliance Relationships

This study investigates trust-building in a cross-cultural context. Representatives of two Finnish companies and their Chinese and Finnish suppliers were interviewed by to collect qualitative data from 23 managers. This study... [ view full abstract ]

This study investigates trust-building in a cross-cultural context. Representatives of two Finnish companies and their Chinese and Finnish suppliers were interviewed by to collect qualitative data from 23 managers. This study emphasizes trust evaluation as a holistic process in which the factors of trustworthiness and distrustworthiness are evaluated simultaneously. In addition, the signs of trust ambivalence were identified for both the Chinese and the Finns. According findings trust ambivalence could be caused by divergent role expectations or conflict between different trustworthiness factors. It occurs as conflicting or opposing objectives where you have to make a trade off, such as in revealing personal emotions or being professional. This study enriches the view of trust as a holistic process by simultaneously evaluating the factors related to both trustworthiness and distrustworthiness. Where trust ambivalence could serve as the intermediate construct between trust and distrust as two contrary yet complementary opposites to constitute a duality to be managed from the perspective of yin–yang balancing.

Key words: trustworthiness; distrustworthiness; trust ambivalence; cross-cultural; buyer–supplier relationships