Discussions of trust in business ethics and management have largely followed philosophical accounts in focusing on so-called three-place trust (A trusts B to phi). This reflects the behavioral dimension of human sociality, but at the expense, I believe, of the cognitive and affective dimensions expressed by two-place trust (A trusts B). In this paper, I return to the foundational philosophical assumptions underlying accounts of trust to present and defend a perspectival account of two-place trust: to trust someone (in some domain) is to take them to share one’s self-endorsed perspectives (in that domain). In so doing, I extend theorizing on trust in organizational contexts.
