Springer Social Networks and Trust: 30 (Theory and Decision Library C, 30)

Social Networks and Trust discusses two possible explanations for the emergence of trust via social networks. If network members can sanction untrustworthiness of actors, these actors may refrain from acting in an untrustworthy manner. Moreover, if actors are informed regularly about trustworthy behavior of others, trust will grow among these actors. A unique combination of formal model building and empirical methodology is used to derive and test hypotheses about the effects of networks on trust. The models combine elements from game theory, which is mainly used in economics, and social network analysis, which is mainly used in sociology. The hypotheses are tested (1) by analyzing contracts in information technology transactions from a survey on small and medium-sized enterprises and (2) by studying judgments of subjects in a vignette experiment related to hypothetical transactions with a used-car dealer. About the Author Vincent Buskens holds a masters degree in Discrete Mathematics and in Technological Development Science and graduated in Sociology in 1999 at Utrecht University. His Ph.D. research, which combines theory and applications from Sociology and Economics, was awarded with the prize for the best dissertation in economics in the Netherlands from the Royal Netherlands' Economic Association in 1998-1999. From 1999 to 2000 he worked as a visiting scholar at Stanford Graduate School of Business and at the University of Chicago. As of 2000, he works as a research fellow at the Interuniversity Center for Social Science Theory and Methodology (ICS), located at Utrecht University, The Netherlands