Trust: Future Directions & Applications w/ Dr. Joe Hamm

We finish our exploration of trust theory in this episode with a conversation about what the future of trust research might look like and how we might think about applying these theorizations in our daily lives. Our guest scholar is Dr. Joe Hamm, Associate Professor of Criminal Justice and Environmental Science at Michigan State University.

Joe's program of research lies at the nexus of governance and the public, where he investigates what trust is, how best to appropriately measure it, and its connection to "outcomes" like cooperation and compliance. Joe works closely with a variety of governance organizations, including police agencies, court systems, natural resource authorities, public health departments, and a variety of other state and federal entities, with the overarching goal of contributing to a cross-boundary social science of trust.

Joe serves as Graduate Program Director for the MSU Environmental Science and Policy Program; Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Trust Research; and on the editorial boards of Psychology, Public Policy, and Law and Law and Human Behavior.

Professor Hamm's portfolio of work on trust is large and varied, but these publications provide a useful introduction to his scholarship addressing the topic:

Hamm, J. A., Trinkner, R., & Carr, J. D. (2017). Fair process, trust, and cooperation: Moving toward an integrated framework of police legitimacy. Criminal justice and behavior, 44(9), 1183-1212.

Hamm, J. A., Smidt, C., & Mayer, R. C. (2019). Understanding the psychological nature and mechanisms of political trust. PloS one, 14(5), e0215835.

PytlikZillig, L. M., Hamm, J. A., Shockley, E., Herian, M. N., Neal, T. M., Kimbrough, C. D., ... & Bornstein, B. H. (2016). The dimensionality of trust-relevant constructs in four institutional domains: Results from confirmatory factor analyses. Journal of Trust Research, 6(2), 111-150.

The Social Science for Public Good Podcast is a project of the Virginia Tech Institute for Policy and Governance and VT Publishing intended to make social science theories accessible and available to individuals and organizations seeking to promote social change.

Music: Purple-planet.com