Explicating trust and its relation to dialogue at a time of divided societies

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Abstract

Values, beliefs, opinions and attitudes on issues (such as religion, LGBTQ, immigration, etc.), and the proliferation of social media platforms have made society not only more diverse but also more divided. Competing and conflicting views and attitudes result in more schisms and disengagement. In addition, conflicts and disagreements on various issues also have resulted in a lack of trust and a reluctance of organizations and publics to engage in meaningful communication. As a result, developing trusting relationships by facilitating dialogues is significant. Trust has been an important construct in past research on organization-public relationships. However, the concept of trust has rarely been discussed in-depth in public relations literature. This special section of Public Relations Review, entitled Enhancing Dialogue and Trust in Diverse Societies, examines whether the current definitions of trust and its dimensions in the public relations literature are adequate in an organization-public dialogic communication setting.

Introduction

In recent years, we have watched and read about conflicts and division in different societies. For example, in June, 2016, the UK referendum result showed that 51.6 % of the voters were in favor of leaving the European Union, and the country left Europe on 31 January, 2020. In December, 2016, the cover of Time Magazine, featuring the Person of the Year, named Donald Trump as “the President of the Divided States of America” (Time, December 6, 2016). Recently, the world has seen societal conflicts in Hong Kong since June, 2019. Conflicts due to different views and values have created tension, fear, distrust, and further division. In addition, social and digital media have also been used to create fake news and echo chamber effects that further divide society by creating new tension and conflicts. One cannot help but ask why these parties do not talk or engage in meaningful dialogue to minimize/remove disagreements and ultimately restore relationships.

In this year’s Edelman Trust Barometer (Edelman, 2020), we have seen a continuous decline of trust, and, what is worse, none of the institutions have the trust of the general public. For such institutions, the question is about “how” and “when” to best use various communication platforms to engage in meaningful dialogue and discussions (Kent & Taylor, 2002). Therefore, this special section, Enhancing Dialogue and Trust in Diverse Societies, aims at examining how organizations can enhance trust and relationships with publics holding different values and perspectives in various organization-public dialogue settings.

The special section (Volume 46 and Issue 1), entitled Dialogue in Greater China, in Public Relations Review discussed critical issues in the development of the dialogic theory of public relations, and proposed possible research directions for furthering the development of the dialogic theory. In that special section, we have defined organization-public dialogue as “a conversation between an organization and its public(s) that leads to positive OPRs through mutual understanding, mutual respect, and/or mutual acceptance” (Y.R. Chen, Hung-Baesecke, & Chen, 2020, p. 2). Together with Kent and Taylor (2002) definition of dialogue that includes the principles of mutuality, empathy, propinquity, risk and communication, we consider such a form of dialogue is more than just two-way communication. To enact dialogue, both sides must take into account differences, respect, mutuality and acceptance in engaging with the other party.

Therefore, in the introduction to this special section, we discuss not only dialogue but also trust, and how the concept of trust has been investigated in the literature of public relations and dialogue. In public relations, trust has been widely defined as “as “one party’s level of confidence in and willingness to open oneself to the other party” (Hon & Grunig, 1999, p. 6). Various research has demonstrated trust to be one of the important indicators for organization-public relationships (e.g., Cheng, 2018), and that trust can afford an organization the “benefit of the doubt in ambiguous situations” (Fombrun, 1996, p. 9). This special section will propose research directions on how trust and dialogue can be more effective in enhancing understanding and relationships between organizations and publics.

In the following section, we will begin by discussing the importance of the relations between organization-public dialogue and trust, followed by critical issues in research relevant to trust, such as the constructs (definitions and dimensions) of trust. We will make suggestions on future research directions for trust and dialogue.

Section snippets

Organization-public dialogue and trust

Pearson (1989) opened the doors for public relations research on dialogue when he proposed to develop a more ethical theoretical framework for public relations. He contended that it is important for public relations to have a dialogic system which allows parties with competing interests to identify shared ground. Pearson’s thoughts inspired Kent and Taylor (1998) discussions on the potential nature and process of dialogic communication on the web-based communication.

Kent and Taylor later

Trust: definitions and concepts revisited

Trust is fundamental in today’s society (Bentele & Wehmeier, 2007; Head, 2012; Kroeger, 2015; Luhmann, 1984; Morgner, 2018). Literature from different disciplines has featured thorough discussions on trust. For example, Luhmann (1979) theory on trust has been widely discussed in sociology. He contended that the function of trust in society is to reduce uncertainty and complexity. Trust is a connective medium because it not only enables different levels of society to connect but also explains

Articles included in the special section

One of the aims of this special section, titled Enhancing Dialogue and Trust in Diverse Societies, is to explore the functions of organization-public dialogue and the dialogue’s relationship with organization-public trust in a diverse and sometimes divided society, whereby the practice of dialogue is often challenged by the conflict of interests and/or perceptions deriving from enacted identities as well as distrust among divided groups in the society. To reach that end, the articles in this

Future research direction

This special section examines the practice of dialogue (of various types and in multiple contexts) and its outcome as trust cultivation. It also addresses issues arising from dialogue in a diverse society and contains new theories of public relations that contain the concept of dialogue as a significant underpinning. At least three themes arise as contributions of the special section across the included articles.

First, the special section contributes to the development of the dialogic theory of

Endnote

This special section is based on the open call for papers of the Preconference of the Annual Conference of International Communication Association (ICA) in Prague, the Czech Republic in 2018. The theme of this preconference was Diverse Voices: Authentic Communication, Trust, Dialogue, and Society. This preconference was organized by the Public Relations Society of China (PRSC), the European Public Relations Education and Research Association (EUPRERA), and the Department of Marketing

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