Trustworthiness as an Impression

This chapter discusses current developments in the theory of trust and distrust drawing upon a field study between solution providers and their clients in the IT industry in Poland. It addresses the question of how the suppliers (trust-takers) establish the image of being trustworthy, and how their trustworthiness is in turn examined by their potential customers, when cooperation takes place in the context of the openly expressed lack of trust (or distrust). Trust in the chapter is seen as a tranquilizer that suspends the feeling of vulnerability and enables action regardless of uncertainty involved in the situation. Cooperation is understood in dramaturgic terms--the supplier is to produce an impression that will make them appear trustworthy as perceived by the customer.