**4. Theoretical perspectives**

view that trust is sequentially achieved at three different levels where, once trust has been established at one level, it moves to the next level [32]. According to [33], these three levels of trust are calculus-based; knowledge-based; and identification-based. At the calculus-based level, parties fear punishment, but also anticipate the rewards from preserving trust; in other words, trust is based on the calculation of costs and benefits. In this stage, if the benefits are more than the costs then the parties tend to show trust to each other. At the knowledge-based level, trust develops over time from permanent contact or interaction between two or more parties. This second level of trust is attained between two or more parties when there is sufficient information about each party's behavior. Hence, knowledge-based trust depends on acceptance of each party behavior and ability to predict behavior of each other rather than deterrence [33]. At the identification-based level, trust is 'inherent on identification with each other's desires and intentions' [33]. At this stage, parties know each other so well and they may anticipate the reactions of each other; thus, they can act for the one another (**Figure 1**).

Arising from the illustration above, it can be observed that each stage of trust depends on one another and that the higher stage depicts an expectation that a trust relationship will continue in the future. Also, each stage triggers the next stage through action characteristically of its nature. For instance, calculus-based trust is driven by the need to gather information about the other party in order to make a realistic decision on how to act or relate with each other. This information afterwards serves as the foundation for knowledge-based trust. When knowledge based trust is eventually construct parties continuously strive to learn about each other behavior, intention and motivation. As this learning process increases, so does the identification of one party with the other party advances. More so, when identification with each other becomes the source of relationship between two or more parties, transition from knowl-

**Figure 1.** Stages of trust development in an organization adapted from Lewicki and Bunker [32] and Lewicki et al. [3]

edge-based trust to identification-based trust has occurred.

with modification.

42 Organizational Conflict

Literature has shown that there are numerous theoretical approaches on organizational trust [32, 39, 40]. Out of the theories that have been developed by scholars to facilitate better understanding of organizational trust, three main approaches (contract failure theory in economics, the concept of trust in cognitive sociology, and the study of social capital) are paraphrased in this section.
