General Theme

At the same time, trust and trustworthiness are concepts that help us understand the dynamics of these relations and challenging topics. Trust is the willingness to become vulnerable to another individual or organization, based on the belief that this person or organization will act as expected and consistently, and not harm you. Trustworthiness is the extent to which trust is justified in light of an individual’s or organization’s behavior, traits, competencies, and actions. Organizations across different sectors (e.g., private, public, and non-profit) and interacting individuals must constantly navigate tensions between trust and control, transparency and ambiguity, and resilience and vulnerability. Trustworthiness is relational; it is fallibly attributed rather than objectively verified and must be proven repeatedly over time. Once acquired, it must be nurtured and sustained through active communication, not passive silence.

Trust and trustworthiness are also dynamic and contested resource-built concepts, maintained and eroded across diverse organizational contexts from traditional hierarchies and fluid networks to algorithmic governance and crisis response. Trust is intrinsically connected to trustworthiness, the qualities of ability, benevolence, and integrity making an entity or an individual worthy of trust. By foregrounding both trust and trustworthiness, EGOS 2028 offers a lens through which to examine how organizations and people manage fragility, foster resilience, and imagine alternative ways of organizing. Such a lens might help us see and understand better how the challenges of today arise and why they keep emerging while other approaches make comprehension or solution-finding difficult or even impossible. The lens of trust and trustworthiness can help us better understand how people in organizations deal with diversity and inclusion, how they mobilize collectively, how they work innovatively, how governments function and adapt, and why some individuals or organizations betray trust by cheating and committing crimes. In short, this lens offers a wide range of novel possibilities for the EGOS community to discover fresh answers and approaches,

as well as new outcomes and variables, when addressing today’s grand challenges.

Timely concepts on multiple levels
Trust and trustworthiness offer a timely, conceptually rich lens for rethinking how organizations function, adapt, and relate to their environments. As Aristotle reminds us, the primary reason for discussing trust is not to understand the concept philosophically but to put the issue of trust on the table and talk it through in specific, practical situations. By talking about trust, it can be created, and distrust mitigated. In contrast, not talking about trust can lead to ongoing distrust. This perspective is particularly relevant today, since trust has not been a central topic in recent organizational scholarship, despite repeated calls for its examination in the face of new technologies, organizational forms, and institutional settings. Trust comes into play whenever coordination must be achieved under conditions of uncertainty, interdependence, and incomplete knowledge. In contemporary organizational contexts, shifting dynamics unfold simultaneously at the micro, meso, and macro levels. At the micro level, trust is embodied in everyday interaction through leadership practices and intercultural communication. As Václav Havel emphasized, trust does not arise from unilateral declarations but from shared commitments expressed as “we must trust one another.” At the meso level, trust plays a coordinating role in organizations and interorganizational relationships, supporting collaboration when formal contracts cannot anticipate every contingency.
 
Trustworthiness is demonstrated through consistent performance, care for partner interests, and adherence to shared values. At the macro level, collective action depends on shared expectations and legitimacy, with trust varying from highly particularized trust in specific actors to generalized trust in institutions and systems. Understanding how these levels remain intertwined becomes essential as boundaries between interpersonal dynamics, organizational coordination, and institutional legitimacy become increasingly blurred.

The Swiss and SML/ZHAW context and EGOS 2028

Switzerland provides a fitting context for this exploration. Home to the UN’s European headquarters, the WTO, and countless international NGOs, Switzerland embodies a living laboratory of trust in practice, balancing neutrality with engagement, tradition with innovation, and local identity with global connectivity. The EGOS 2028 Colloquium will serve as a platform to explore how trust in its many forms can be leveraged to address contemporary challenges, strengthen organizational resilience, and foster sustainable cooperation in an increasingly interlinked and complex world.