In public relations "trust" can be defined in a number of ways, some of which are the very reason why the media hates PR so much. It's not always about confidence and dependability, as some would define the concept - trust in organizations like BP has far more complex definitions and meanings.
When Bob Dudley said "We will earn back trust in BP and begin to restore the company's battered reputation," to a bunch of business leaders in London, he knew exactly which buttons to push. To help the reader better understand the subtleness, consider that Dale E. Zand introduced three concepts to help defining the idea of "trust in organizations" - influence, mutual control, and vulnerability. The words are self explanatory, but not enough to translate fully what Dudley is doing. Move the focus over to Marcia L. Watson, who defines in plain English the three critical elements of trust (ability, benevolence, and integrity) identified in 1995 by Mayer, Davis and Schoorman:
- Ability is a group of skills, competencies, or characteristics that enable the trustee to have influence within a specific domain. This is similar to competence or perceived expertise.
- Benevolence is the extent to which a trustee is believed to want to do good for the trustor, putting to one side his egoistic profit motives, and generally always acting in the interest of the trustor. This suggests the trustee has an attachment to the trustor ...
- Integrity involves the trustor’s perception that the trustee adheres to a set of principles acceptable to the trustor.
