Trust in Technology Partnerships

Abstract

In this chapter the concept and phenomenon of trust with special focus on technology partnership formation is explored. Complementary partnerships are believed to be a key element both in knowledge creation for technological development itself and in leveraging the value of technological knowledge. Knowledge creation is social in nature, and social exchange is a core process in knowledge creation, where voluntary communication based on trust is critical. The aim of this chapter is to increase the understanding of trust both as a concept and as a phenomenon. The conceptualization of trust is derived basically from the literature and developed further by data from an empirical study by Blomqvist (2002) on trust in asymmetric technology partnerships. On the basis of these analyses a four-dimensional conceptualization of trust is formed. Trust is an actor’s expectation on the other party’s capability, goodwill and self-reference, which needs to be confirmed by experience. Thus trust is increased by — and decreased by the lack of — these components in parties’ actual behavior and communication. The authors show also some operative methods for building trust.