Firms substitute safeguards for trust even where trust could work

Evidence

The first point to be made is that there is extensive use of safeguards by client firms to minimize the possibility of being the victim of opportunistic behaviour and hence the need to rely on trust. There is an Italian saying which captures much of the sentiment: ‘It is good to trust but it is better not to trust.’ — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 2573

Categorization

• XREF: Speaks directly to Hardin’s point that trust requires observable constraints — here firms deliberately build the constraints in rather than relying on trust.