Trust, business relationships and the contractual environment

The role of trust in vertical contractual relationships between firms in Britain, Germany and Italy is investigated with a survey of over 60 firms. After a review of the literature in which the nature of trust is discussed and set against a background of social norms and legal systems, data are presented to describe respondents' perceptions of the role of trust in their trading environment, their strategies to foster trust and their reactions to the breakdown of trust. While there was some evidence of differences in the basis of trust between countries, these were differences of degree rather than of kind.