ABSTRACT In a rapidly changing and dynamic world, individuals’ propensity to trust is likely to become an increasingly important facet for understanding human behaviour, yet its measurement has mostly been unexplored. We undertake the first systematic qualitative survey of propensity to trust scales using qualitative meta-analysis methodology to review the literature (1966–2018) and identify 26 measures and their applications in 179 studies. Using content analysis, we thematically organise these scales into six thematic areas and discuss the emerging implications. We find that while most of these scales reflect propensity to trust in terms of a positive belief in human nature, other themes include general trust, role expectations, institutional trust, cautiousness and other personality attributes. We reveal significant methodological concerns regarding several scales and argue for more considered selection of scales for use in research. We examine the case for multidimensionality in measures of propensity to trust used within organisational research. Rather than treating a lack of generalisability of findings in existing organisational studies as purely a problem of measurement design, we instead outline an agenda for further conceptual and empirical study.

中文翻译：

---

信任度量倾向的定性荟萃分析

摘要在瞬息万变的世界中，个人的信任倾向可能会成为了解人类行为的一个越来越重要的方面，但人们对其度量方法却一直未开发。我们使用定性荟萃分析方法进行了第一次信任度倾向性的系统性定性调查，以回顾文献（1966–2018），并在179项研究中确定了26种度量及其应用。通过内容分析，我们将这些量表主题化地划分为六个主题领域，并讨论新出现的含义。我们发现，尽管这些量表中的大多数都反映了对人性的积极信念所产生的信任倾向，但其他主题包括普遍信任，角色期望，机构信任，谨慎和其他人格属性。我们揭示了有关几种量表的重大方法论问题，并主张为研究使用更多量表。我们在组织研究中使用的信任倾向量度中检验多维情况。我们不是将现有组织研究中缺乏普遍性的结果视为纯粹的度量设计问题，而是概述了进行进一步的概念和实证研究的议程。