Torsten Svensson

Power, Trust, and Institutional Constraints: Individual Level Evidence

This article focuses on how institutions matter in generating relationships of trust in an environment of unequal power. Trust is seen as the trusters expectation that the trustee will act trustworthily out of moral commitment and/or interest in continuing the relationship. Using cross-sectional data from a survey conducted in 2006 on Swedish employment relations the authors show that perceived power asymmetries between an employee and his or her superior have a negative impact on trust. However, perceptions about the enforcement and fairness of institutional constraints — rules for dismissal, conflict resolution, wage setting, and promotion — have conditioning effects. When the respondents perceive the rules as fair, trust is less influenced by increasing power asymmetries between an employee and his or her superior. The results have important implications. By designing institutions that are considered fair, distrust may be mitigated even in situations characterized by extensive power asymmetries.

Labour Market Organisations’ Participation in Swedish Public Policy–Making

Unions and employers are political actors. Apart from defending their interests on the labour market they act in the political arena. In order to weaken the trade unions neo-liberal parties and employers’ organisations have tried to change existing systems in Sweden and elsewhere. Hence, the general questions being asked in this article are: Do Swedish labour market organisations still participate in (i.e. try to influence) public policy-making on a large-scale? Are there any substantial differences in the degree to which unions and employers’ organisations participate or in their access and strategies of participation? In this article it is argued that while participation of labour market organisations in the old institutionalised framework has decreased, it has not vanished. Labour market organisations are also very much involved in public policy-making by informally contacting politicians and public servants. The unions have extensive contacts with politicians on all levels, but especially with the Social Democratic Party, while employers’ organisations have more intense contacts with the public administration and public servants. The over-all picture being presented in this article is that labour market organisations in Sweden have not at all been left out in the cold. It is clear that Sweden is far from a British situation and still remains similar to its Scandinavian neighbours.

Does Power Drive Out Trust? Relations between Labour Market Actors in Sweden

Although power and trust are crucial to human cooperation, and considerable attention has been paid to both these concepts in the social sciences, the relationship between them has been poorly investigated. In this article, based on data about a complete network of labour market actors in Sweden, it is investigated whether power ‘drives out trust’ or if power is a requirement of trust. In contrast to previous research, the article concludes that there is a positive relationship between power and trust, although it levels out when power is at a very high level. Also in disagreement with previous findings, it is shown that symmetry in power relations is not a guarantee of trust: two actors with symmetric low power do not trust each other, at least not in this specific institutional setting. Moreover, the theoretical argument is developed and refined by showing that shared beliefs and group membership also have an independent impact on trust, as well as a perception that the other actor is pursuing the common good. Hence, the presumed negative impact of power on trust is not only neutralised, but also transformed into a positive impact in the social context investigated here. However, more research is needed to show whether this finding is true only within certain institutional settings and, if so, within which ones.

Similarity vs. homogeneity: contextual effects in explaining trust

Diversity has powerful advantages, but may also generate internal tensions and low interpersonal trust. Despite extensive attention to these questions, the relationship between diversity and trust is often misunderstood and findings methodologically flawed. In this article, we specify two different mechanisms and adherent hypotheses. An individual might base her decision to trust on her perceived social similarity in relation to others in the community, that is, a similarity hypothesis. However, in a homogenous context, she might expect trustworthy behavior irrespective of her own social position due to signals of low degrees of social conflict and dense social networks, that is, a homogeneity hypothesis. Prior research has pinpointed only one of these mechanisms. The homogeneity hypothesis has not been explicated, and when the intention has been to test the similarity hypothesis, the homogeneity hypothesis has unintentionally been tested instead. The results are straightforward. While the homogeneity hypothesis is strongly supported, the findings speak against the similarity hypothesis.

How are Coordinated Market Economies Coordinated? : Evidence from Sweden

Central actors in coordinated economies have a dense network of associations for coordinating their actions. However, we lack knowledge of how such relationships are constituted and how the mechanisms of such coordination work. In the present article, we concentrate on the non-market mechanisms of power and trust. We want to know: Are all actors in the industrial relations system connected to each other or are they divided into contending but coherent groups? And in that case, do certain actors playing the role of ‘brokers’ connect these groups? A social network analysis on survey data from Sweden shows that the state and the peak-organisations still hold powerful positions. Simultaneously, when concentrating on reciprocal ties, the organisational borders are in particular bridged over by public sector organisations. However, actors with power are not highly trusted. Instead, other state actors – especially the Labour Court–play an important role as a broker that all parties trust.

Making Capitalism Work: Fair Institutions and Trust

This study tests three hypotheses on data from a survey on employment relations conducted in Sweden in 2006. The first hypothesis implies that the extent to which an employee perceives formal institutions as fair and duly enforced increases the probability that he/she will behave cooperatively. The second hypothesis states that an employees trust in the opposite party should have equivalent effects. The last hypothesis holds that an employees perception of formal institutions as fair and duly enforced increases his/her trust in the opposite party. All three hypotheses are supported by the data. The interpretation is that there is indeed an effect on cooperative behavior and willingness to enter into flexible contracts from perceptions of fair and enforced institutions, but it is indirect and mediated by attitudes of trust.