The Trust Triangle: Laws, Reputation, and Culture in Empirical Finance Research

Karpoff, Jonathan M. and Quentin Dupont, 2020. The Trust Triangle: Laws, Reputation, and Culture in Empirical Finance Research (with Quentin Dupont), The Journal of Business Ethics, 163, 217–238.

50 Pages Posted: 31 Jan 2018 Last revised: 10 Aug 2020

See all articles by Quentin Dupont

Quentin Dupont

Georgetown University - McDonough School of Business

Jonathan M. Karpoff

University of Washington - Michael G. Foster School of Business; European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

Date Written: November 28, 2018

Abstract

We propose a construct, the Trust Triangle, that highlights three primary mechanisms that provide ex post accountability for opportunistic behavior and motivate ex ante trust in economic relationships. The mechanisms are: (i) a society’s legal and regulatory framework, (ii) market-based discipline and reputational capital, and (iii) culture, including individual ethics and social norms. The Trust Triangle provides a framework to conceptualize the relationships between trust, corporate accountability, legal liability, reputation, and culture. We use the Trust Triangle to summarize recent developments in the empirical finance literature that examine how trust is formed and how trust, or its absence, affects financial markets, firm performance, and the incidence of financial fraud. To date, most studies examine only one leg of the Trust Triangle in isolation. The evidence, however, indicates that all three legs of the Trust Triangle have first-order effects on a wide range of financial outcomes and that they are interrelated. Attempts to model trust and trustworthiness that do not incorporate all three aspects of the Trust Triangle will therefore miss essential aspects of the basic economic problem of how counterparties overcome the risks of moral hazard, asymmetric information, and opportunism to engage in mutually beneficial exchange and production activities. We focus especially on culture-related mechanisms, a recently developed area in empirical finance research that has potential to influence the more established research on laws and reputation.

Keywords: Trust, accountability, opportunism, fraud, reputation, culture

JEL Classification: A13, G38, K40, Z10

Suggested Citation

Dupont, Quentin and Karpoff, Jonathan M., The Trust Triangle: Laws, Reputation, and Culture in Empirical Finance Research (November 28, 2018). Karpoff, Jonathan M. and Quentin Dupont, 2020. The Trust Triangle: Laws, Reputation, and Culture in Empirical Finance Research (with Quentin Dupont), The Journal of Business Ethics, 163, 217–238., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3105693 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3105693

Quentin Dupont (Contact Author)

Georgetown University - McDonough School of Business ( email )

3700 O Street, NW
Washington, DC 20057
United States

Jonathan M. Karpoff

University of Washington - Michael G. Foster School of Business ( email )

Box 353226
Seattle, WA 98195-3200
United States
206-685-4954 (Phone)
206-221-6856 (Fax)

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) ( email )

c/o the Royal Academies of Belgium
Rue Ducale 1 Hertogsstraat
1000 Brussels
Belgium

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