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Purpose – This study focuses on the relationship between local governments and public sector joint ventures (JVs). Public sector JVs are separate administrative entities that undertake public service activities on behalf of local governments. The aim of this study is to examine the vertical management control packages that are used by local governments to control the relationship with their public sector JVs.

Design/methodology/approach – Two case studies have been conducted in two public sector JVs, owned jointly by more than 20 local governments. The analysis of the two cases is informed by an integrated conceptual framework describing how transactional and relational factors influence control, trust, and risk in the context of public sector JVs.

Findings – The case studies provide a nuanced understanding of the interplay between the vertical management control packages, trust between the parents and the public sector JVs, and risks as perceived by the local governments. The case findings not only reveal how local governments struggle with adequate outcome control but also highlight how and why they rely on behavioral control. A related finding is that while the probability of poor business performance does not have a significant impact on the design of the vertical control packages, the social impact of failure has the potential to create a sense of urgency with regard to changes in the design of vertical management control packages.

Originality/value – This study adds to the literature on interorganizational relationships by providing insight into the use of vertical management control packages in the specific, but relevant, setting of public sector JVs.

Informal entrepreneurship challenges sustainable economic performance and is a barrier to productive entrepreneurship. In this context, the level of development of formal and informal institutions and their impact on informal entrepreneurship is crucial. This chapter examines the informal sector entrepreneurship in Kosovo using institutional theory lenses. Using a survey with 500 owners/managers of private companies, the study finds that the service industry has the highest participation in the informal economy compared to other sectors. On average small firms, compared to larger ones, report a higher percentage of unreported incomes. Our findings also suggest that when informal entrepreneurs perceive penalties for tax avoidance from tax authorities as high, they tend to have higher compliance with reporting their income. In addition, our findings indicate that the higher the vertical (trust in formal institutions) and horizontal distrust (trust in business partners), the higher the involvement in the informal economy. The chapter concludes with some policy implications for tackling the informal economy in Kosovo and similar institutional contexts.

The issue of trust in Industry 4.0 is extremely important from an organization’s perspective. The dynamic development of 4.0 technologies implies wide-ranging changes, which, in order to be implemented effectively, require cooperation based on trust. The purpose of this literature analysis is to identify key research areas regarding trust in Industry 4.0 and to identify further research directions.

Based on a comprehensive literature analysis, the most prominent areas of research on trust issues in Industry 4.0 will be presented (k=36). This chapter will also identify and discuss directions for further research.

The results of the analysis enable to illustrate the trends of science development in the area of Industry 4.0, as well as to identify key issues related to trust. Moreover, the research problems for further studies on the analyzed issue will also be indicated.

The research presented here identifies key Industry 4.0 technologies that are based on trust.

The review provides a valuable resource for practitioners regarding the critical aspects of implementing Industry 4.0 with respect to trust.

This is the first comprehensive literature review diagnosing research areas, technologies, and directions for future research on trust in Industry 4.0.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, trust considerations have been amplified to levels not seen in most of our lifetimes. We have been asked to trust: epidemiologists, virologists and immunologists in terms of the nature of COVID-19 transmission and vaccinations; politicians, public health planners and policymakers in terms of the need for various responses such as lockdowns, school closures, border closures and economic recovery plans; media sources in terms of accurately reporting COVID-19 news; and members of our community in terms of doing their best to protect themselves and others from COVID-19 transmission, including mask wearing, hand washing, isolating and social/physical distancing. Within this chapter, we attempt to explore the emotional responses to this complex web of trust considerations from qualitative data in a study we conducted amidst the beginning of the pandemic. We then offer some interpretations about how trust considerations may have been altered as a result of living in and through the pandemic. We suggest that trust can be a primary emotion, or at least function that way during times of crises, and be (reflexively) deployed by citizens to manage emotional repertoires during crisis and to position themselves as responsible neoliberal citizens. We add understanding about the strains in horizontal/interpersonal trust relations during a pandemic – where the virus spreading between people necessitates social and relational distancing measures for containment – and inflames questions about whether or not we can trust each other.

Purpose — The purpose of this chapter is to assess empirically the levels of trust across the world and to explore possible differences in the levels of trust among different groups of respondents.Design/methodology/approach — We analyze the individual-level data from 81 countries around the world using latest available European Values Study (EVS) and World Values Survey (WVS) datasets (most data refer to the year 2008). Methodologically, we compose three trust indicators using confirmatory factor analysis and then compare the level of trust in different groups. After that we calculate country-level means of trust indicators and use these as inputs in cluster analysis.Findings — The results of our empirical analysis show that the level of trust among supervisors do not differ significantly from the overall level of trust in a society, supporting the hypothesis that honesty and trust tend to be contagious. Still, there are statistically significant differences in trust levels between almost all explored population groups which were composed on the basis of previous theoretical and empirical literature.Limitations — Our analysis covered only selected socio-economic determinants of trust. It would be reasonable to add some contextual or systemic factors at the level of nation (like GDP per capita, quality of formal institutions, society’s polarization, or others) into further analysis.Originality/value — Our analysis distinguishes between three different types of trust which are studied both at individual and national level. Also, differences between age groups and educational groups, men and women, religious and non-religious persons are examined. Finally, we compare the levels of trust of those supervising someone with the average trust levels in the society as a whole.

The chapter evaluates trust-based and emotional intelligence (EI) approaches in Tanzania’s informal sector entrepreneurs, from mali kwa mali (barter trade), mali kauli (trust-based credit) to collective or technology-based upatu (revolving credit). It analyses both vertical and horizontal trust, and the depth of linkage to growth and sustainability of entrepreneurship in the informal sector.

The chapter invokes experiences of informal sector entrepreneurs including itinerant hawkers (machinga), food vendors (mama lishe or mama ntilie) and motorcycle drivers (bodaboda). The unique trust-based approaches mali kwa mali and mali kauli in entrepreneurial undertakings extends from colonial times to post economic liberalisation and contemporary Tanzania. Mali kauli, a creative traditional credit practice, is a unique approach that facilitates and sustains micro-retail sub-sector and livelihoods in urban and rural Tanzania. Although the objective remains business profitability, sustainability of entrepreneurial ventures does not depend on it alone. Trust and EI are well invested in these approaches.

The chapter draws from past work on managing in the informal economy to derive theoretical and practical implications, and how trust and EI plays a role in the Tanzanian informal entrepreneurial circles.

The growth in cryptomarkets has reinvigorated the research on illicit drug distribution due to the availability of large-scale data. This data has enabled researchers to ask new and detailed questions about how participants in these markets trust each other enough for the market not to collapse. This question deserves more attention because it has become a taken-for-granted notion that repeated transactions and social categories create trust. Whether online or on the street, economic exchanges under illegality are more uncertain than transactions in the legal economy. This puts higher demands on trust, as there is less information and the stakes are higher. In this chapter, the author presents definitions, typologies, and disciplinary contributions to the study of trust and examine how it has been operationalised in a sample of 13 peer-reviewed articles. These articles focus on three dimensions of trust: process-based trust that derives from repeated transactions with known partners; character-based trust measured by the networked reputation scores; and institutional-based trust in the platform and its administrators. In practice, the trust bases are intertwined. Drawing on the broader social science literature on trust, a mesolevel operationalisation that centres on networked reputation scores as embedded in processes and institutions can draw the research together in a multidisciplinary framework.

The chapter examines why growth in African economies between 1996 and 2016 appears not to have led to improvements in the key governance indicators (GIs) of government effectiveness, rule of law and control of corruption. Comparative data from other continents are presented to provide a contextual perspective for the case of Africa. The central research question is why has the continent been witnessing economic growth in real terms but simultaneously regressive movements in these three key indicators of governance which are central to the concept of ‘development’ itself? The data span the period from 1996 to 2016 inclusive using the WGI database of the World Bank for 171 countries including 43 African countries. The country sample is selected to ensure the same countries are included in the WGI database across all years of the sample period. The data are analysed numerically in terms of relative and absolute deviations and graphically. The results demonstrate a clear trend in several continents of worsening GIs while real economic growth has been positive. However, the distribution of this negative trend is highly skewed towards the African countries in the sample. The findings suggest that, despite real growth, economic and social development (in the widest sense) is actually regressing in many countries. We offer alternative theoretical explanations for this (apparent) contradiction and a number of possible policy solutions. The data are from the WGI database and all efforts have been taken to ensure its reliability in this analysis. Although there are small differences in how indicators have been measured, these do not seriously affect the underlying trends found in the data. A new approach to establishing value for money in public sector organisations is suggested which at the same time will help strengthen public accountability, transparency and efficiency in the delivery of the government services to the general public. The chapter may provide a new or a different perspective on how societies should perceive government and its various agencies in order to raise accountability. The chapter is conceived from a very old debate: growth versus development but argues that the latter is almost impossible in the absence of good governance and provides analytical evidence as the basis for this conclusion.