ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the coordinative and cooperative roles of trust in inter-organizational relationships. The conceptual distinction between cooperation and coordination has enabled a more complete understanding of inter-organizational governance. The prevailing view in inter-organizational trust research is of trust as a mechanism, which entails a mutual willingness to accept vulnerability in the inter-organizational relationship. A common challenge in inter-organizational relationships is the difficulty of sustaining co operation when objectives are misaligned. From a rational choice perspective, a potential trustor considers what it can possibly gain from investing trust in a social relationship. Scholars have relied on social exchange theory to suggest that trust can, indirectly, also have a coordinative role. In complement to social exchange theory, neo-institutional theory provides insights into how initial trust is established in an inter-organizational relationship. Inter-organizational relationships are multi-level phenomena, where trust simultaneously exists on the individual, organizational and institutional levels of analysis.
