Disposition to Trust Scale

What it measures

Measures the stable general propensity to trust others and institutions — disposition to trust as a personality-like individual difference that shapes initial trust in unfamiliar people, brands, websites, and organisations. Trusting Stance captures a pragmatic willingness to depend on others as a general life strategy. Faith in Humanity captures the positive belief that most people are fundamentally well-intentioned and trustworthy. Dispositional trust is the primary predictor of initial trust in new relationships when no prior experience exists — it is particularly important in e-commerce, digital service, AI, and brand contexts where consumers encounter unfamiliar providers. Higher dispositional trust predicts faster adoption of new technologies, greater willingness to share personal data, and lower perceived risk in first-time purchases. As AI-mediated services proliferate, dispositional trust has become increasingly central to technology adoption and digital consumer behaviour research.

Response format

Likert (1–7, strongly disagree to strongly agree)

Scale items

Faith in Humanity — belief that most people are benevolent and trustworthy (Likert 1–7)

• Most people are basically honest.
• Most people are trustworthy.
• Most people try to be fair.
• I tend to trust people, even though I have little knowledge of them.

Trusting Stance — general willingness to rely on others (Likert 1–7)

• My general approach to others is to trust them until they give me a reason not to.
• My typical approach is to trust new acquaintances right away.
• I tend to trust people right away, until they give me a reason not to.
• I am trusting of others in most situations.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

Two subscale scores. Faith in Humanity is a cognitive belief about human nature; Trusting Stance is a behavioural strategy of extending benefit of the doubt. Together they function as the dispositional baseline from which specific trust in a new vendor, website, or AI system is calibrated. Particularly important in research on AI adoption — individuals high in dispositional trust show faster AI acceptance and lower AI anxiety. Widely used as a covariate or moderator in e-commerce trust and technology adoption studies.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

McKnight, D.H., Cummings, L.L., & Chervany, N.L. (1998). Initial trust formation in new organizational relationships. Academy of Management Review, 23(3), 473–490.

Keywords