Entrepreneurship as Trust

Abstract

Trust is a critical component of our relationship with others. It forms a basis of not only social relations but also economic ones. Trust is necessarily linked to entrepreneurship because it is useful in conditions of uncertainty. An entrepreneur needs to gain trust of others who cannot obtain full knowledge on what is being introduced to the market as well trust others such as partners, employees and suppliers to deliver on promises. This study aims to examine the role of trust in entrepreneurship. After reviewing the conceptualisation of trust, we argue that trust should be seen in the context of a wider-set of entrepreneurship-supporting values. We then explore different types of trust and their role in entrepreneurship, moving from particular trust to extended trust, ending with a discussion on how new technology is enabling entrepreneurs to create a new form of distributed trust between strangers.