When we measure trust in a network, or any relationship, you have to be very careful. If you just ask people how much they trust each other, you can inject bias into the results. When we looked into different ways how to measure trust, we found that there are various sub-components of trust. We rely on these indirect measures to create an overall trust metric for collaborative relationships.

The first metric is mission congruence: When people feel they are working towards the same goals and mission, it builds trust and loyalty between them – we all feel like we’re on the same team. Our mission never completely coincides, but the more it matches, the more trust usually results. 

The second metric is openness to communication: When we trust people, we are far more open to communication with them (especially criticism or disagreement). Just think of the people in your life you are most willing to talk to as your authentic self… they are likely the people you trust most in your life.

The third and final metric is partner reliability: We tend to trust people who are reliable in our experience. The people who do what they say, and say what they do, show they can be trusted and depended on through experience. When you lack reliability, you also probably lack trust. 

Learn more about trust and our evaluation framework here. 

Still looking for more information about measuring trust? Here is a great resource: https://www.infoq.com/news/2018/04/measuring-trust-behaviours/