Examining a Climatoeconomic Contextualization of Generalized Social Trust Mediated by Uncertainty Avoidance

Abstract

Social science research has focused on polieconomic factors for generalized social trust. Yet psychological research has shown that ecological factors can influence cognition, mood, and behavior. Following Van de Vliert’s climatic demands-resources theory, I proposed the view of a climatoeconomic contextualization of generalized social trust. Specifically, I found that the interplay of thermal climates (harshness) and wealth (GDP per capita) was related to generalized social trust, mediated by uncertainty avoidance rather than other cultural dimensions such as individualism-collectivism, masculinity-femininity, and power distance. These findings render direct support to Hofstede’s hypothesis that societal cultures are first-stage outcomes of climatic factors and second-stage intermediaries between these climatic factors and the sociopsychological functioning of markets, organizations, groups, and individuals. They also provide important implications for trust theory and climatic demands-resources theory.

Keywords

trust thermal climate wealth culture uncertainty avoidance

Various disciplines deem trust—the willingness to accept vulnerability to the actions of others based on positive expectations of others’ intentions or behavior (Rousseau, Sitkin, Burt, & Camerer, 1998)—as an important concept that contributes to economic and relational behavior (Berg, Dickhaut, & McCabe, 1995; Colquitt, LePine, Piccolo, Zapata, & Rich, 2012; Colquitt, Scott, & LePine, 2007; Dirks & Ferrin, 2001, 2002; Kramer, 1999; Kramer & Lewicki, 2010; Lewicki, Tomlinson, & Gillespie, 2006; Mayer, David, & Schoorman, 1995; McEvily, Perrone, & Zaheer, 2003; Zaheer, McEvily, & Perrone, 1998). Trust has been extensively examined within the framework of social exchange theory (Aryee, Budhwar, & Chen, 2002; Blau, 1964; Colquitt et al., 2012; Cropanzano & Mitchell, 2005; Dirks & Ferrin, 2002; Frazier, Johnson, Gavin, Gooty, & Snow, 2010; Kong, Dirks, & Ferrin, 2012; Konovsky & Pugh, 1994; Lavelle, Rupp, & Brockner, 2007; McAllister, 1995; Whitener, Brodt, Korsgaard, & Wener, 1998). Social exchange theory can explain thick (particularized) social trust, which is targeted at a specific person and is based on familiarity and similarity in social interactions, but the theory has limited value in explaining thin (generalized) social trust, which does not involve specific interpersonal interactions or relationships (Uslaner, 2002; Zucker, 1986). Understanding the determinants of generalized social trust has important implications for public governance, economic transactions, organizational development, and interpersonal interactions. Social science research has largely focused on polieconomic factors (e.g., income equality) for generalized social trust (e.g., Bjørnskov, 2006). Yet psychological research has shown the significant impact of ecological factors (e.g., weather, thermal climates) on cognition, mood, and behavior (e.g., Cunningham, 1979; Keller et al., 2005; Van de Vliert, 2009). Do thermal-climatic factors, together with economic factors, have an impact on generalized social trust?

Van de Vliert and his colleagues (Van de Vliert, 2007a, 2011; Van de Vliert, Van der Vegt, & Janssen, 2009) found that prosocial-unselfish enculturation and collective self-expression were determined by the interplay of two objective environmental factors—thermal climates and wealth. This is aligned with Hofstede’s (1980) hypothesis that societal cultures are first-stage consequences of climatic composites (see Van de Vliert, 2007a). In addition, societal cultures are second-stage intermediaries between climatic factors and their indirect consequences for the sociopsychological functioning of markets, organizations, groups, and individuals (Hofstede, 1980). A climatoeconomic interaction should contextualize generalized social trust, which is an important sociopsychological mechanism that guides economic transactions and social interactions at various levels (Nannestad, 2008). However, the second-stage mediating mechanism between a climatoeconomic interaction and generalized social trust remains unknown. It is important to empirically examine the mechanism given that societal cultures play a key role in the development of trust (Doney, Cannon, & Mullen, 1998).

The current research directly and simultaneously tests Hofstede’s (1980) hypotheses as previously mentioned. Specifically, I address two related questions: Does a climatoeconomic interaction contextualize generalized social trust? If so, is uncertainty avoidance the adapted cultural dimension that serves as the second-stage intermediary between the climatoeconomic interaction and generalized social trust? Trust is closely related to risk-taking and is an outcome of individuals’ perception and assessment of risks embedded in the environment (Berg et al., 1995; Coleman, 1990; Colquitt et al., 2007; Mayer et al., 1995; McEvily, 2011; Rousseau et al., 1998). Uncertainty avoidance—one of the cultural dimensions proposed by Hofstede (1983) that directly taps into general attitudes toward risk and uncertainty (versus other cultural dimensions such as individualism-collectivism, masculinity-femininity, power distance, and long-term orientation)—may serve as the mediating mechanism that explains how risk perception of the climatoeconomic environment is translated into generalized social trust.

Generalized Social Trust: The Sociopsychological Mechanism of Markets, Organizations, Groups, and Individuals

Trust manifests in two major forms: social trust and institutional trust (Bachmann, 2011). Social trust is based on the perception of another person’s or other people’s characteristics (Mayer et al., 1995), whereas institutional trust is mainly based on the perception of an institution’s performance (e.g., Hetherington, 2005) with no interpersonal interactions (Giddens, 1990). Social trust can further break down into two categories—particularized social trust and generalized social trust. Particularized social trust depends on familiarity and similarity between a trustor and a trustee, whereas generalized social trust depends on morality and a trustee’s or a trust intermediary’s reputation (Khodyakov, 2007; Kong, in press; Putnam, 2000; Uslaner, 2002; Yamagishi, Kikuchi, & Kosugi, 1999; Yamagishi & Yamagishi, 1994; Zucker, 1986).

“Development and modernization require that the network of trust is extended to others outside of the traditional circle of family, neighbourhood, and village” (Realo, Allik, & Greenfield, 2008, p. 450). Generalized social trust plays a significant role in human societies. It is not a stable cultural trait but rather is determined by cultural values or norms transmitted through socialization processes (Axelrod, 1984; Gheorchium, Vignoles, & Smith, 2009; Klasing, 2011; Nannestad, 2008). It is “the bedrock of cooperation” (Nannestad, 2008, p. 428), mobilizing and coordinating actions in markets, organizations, and groups and guiding individuals’ decisions (Dirks & Ferrin, 2001; Gulati, 1995; McEvily et al., 2003; Zaheer et al., 1998; Zaheer & Venkatraman, 1995). Generalized social trust helps reduce collective action problems and transaction costs in principal-agent relationships (Nannestad, 2008). It also makes people approach and cooperate with others who have little history of interactions with them (Realo et al., 2008; Yamagishi, 1986) and facilitates the formation and maintenance of social networks (Gulati, Nohria, & Zaheer, 2000). Thus, generalized social trust is indispensible for connecting diverse social groups, encouraging civic engagement, and increasing economic development (Fukuyama, 1995; Nannestad, 2008; Uslaner, 2002; Uslaner & Brown, 2005).

A Climatoeconomic Contextualization of Generalized Social Trust

Following models of stress (George & Zhou, 2002; Karasek, 1979; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984; Toplyn & Maguire, 1991) in which demands either impair or enhance sociopsychological functioning depending on the necessary resources to meet the demands, Van de Vliert (2007a, 2007b, 2009, 2011) proposed climatic demands-resources theory. According to the theory, great climatic demands matched by wealth-based resources enhance sociopsychological functioning, as this match makes individuals transform threats into opportunities, whereas great climatic demands not matched by wealth-based resources impair sociopsychological functioning, as this mismatch makes individuals concentrate on threats rather than opportunities (Fischer & Van de Vliert, 2011; Parsons, 2003; Van de Vliert, 2009).

Social surrogacy theory and embodied cognition theory both posit the hardwired, unconscious association between physical temperature and social “temperature” in that abstract psychological concepts are metaphorically grounded in concrete physical experience (Bargh & Shalev, in press; IJzerman & Semin, 2009; Troisi & Gabriel, 2011; Williams & Bargh, 2008; Zhong & Leonardelli, 2008). Harsh thermal climates can activate the motivation to seek psychological comfort such as romance (Hong & Sun, in press) or belonging (Troisi & Gabriel, 2011) with family, neighbors, coworkers, and others. Positive feelings and needs for social connections tend to facilitate interpersonal trust (Derfler-Rozin, Pillutla, & Thau, 2010; Dunn & Schweitzer, 2005). Individuals generalize from experiences with certain groups of people in developing their expectancies about how others will treat them or whether others can be trusted (Hardin, 2002; Stack, 1978). Therefore, generalized social trust is “the result of a wide-ranging summation of past experience in more localized domains,” according to the social learning perspective (Glanville & Paxton, 2007, p. 232). Individuals in harsh thermal climates tend to trust generalized others more than those in comfortable thermal climates.

Wealth-based resources can strengthen the relationship between thermal climates and generalized social trust. In harsh thermal climates, abundant wealth-based resources make individuals feel satisfied about fulfilling their thermal needs (Van de Vliert et al., 2009) and needs to protect themselves against the risk of trusting others without intimate knowledge (Hamamura, 2012; Simmel, 1950). Thus, they tend to perceive low risk of generalized social trust and have high generalized social trust. In contrast, when great climatic demands are not matched by wealth-based resources, individuals feel dissatisfied about not fulfilling their thermal needs or needs to protect themselves against the risk of trusting others without intimate knowledge. Thus, they tend to perceive high risk of generalized social trust and have low generalized social trust.

Uncertainty Avoidance as the Mediating Cultural Dimension

Following Fischer and Van de Vliert’s (2011) process model, I argue that thermal climates and wealth provide the ecological context in which individuals deal with environmental uncertainty. Uncertainty avoidance, as an important cultural dimension, reflects the degree to which individuals generally have psychological comfort about uncertain or uncontrollable situations at the societal level (Hofstede, 1980). It defines how individuals in a society are related to risk and has a bearing on trust at the societal level (Doney et al., 1998). Doney et al. (1998) proposed that Hofstede’s cultural dimensions influenced the way individuals develop trust in others. Trust embodies societal cultures in that societal cultures influence the bases of trust (Ferrin & Gillespie, 2010). Individuals in high uncertainty-avoidance cultures generally are more threatened by environmental uncertainty, less willing to accept personal risk, and more aggressive than those in low uncertainty-avoidance cultures (Hofstede, 1980). Therefore, individuals in high uncertainty-avoidance cultures are less likely to take personal risk of trusting generalized others than those in low uncertainty-avoidance cultures.

Thermal climates and wealth are important determinants of uncertainty avoidance. Societies adapt cultural values to their climatic and economic environment (Van de Vliert, 2007b). Comfortable thermal climates do not impose great risk of difficult living conditions or scarce food resources, whereas harsh thermal climates require more resources (e.g., protective devices such as heating systems) to meet the basic need for thermal comfort. Therefore, environmental risk in harsh thermal climates is higher than that in comfortable thermal climates. The perceived risk is exacerbated by the inadequacy of wealth-based resources and the resultant inability to cope with environmental uncertainty. In contrast, when individuals have sufficient wealth-based resources, they feel empowered by the economic resources they possess, thus having an optimistic risk assessment and engaging in risky behavior (Anderson & Galinsky, 2006; Loewenstein, Weber, Hsee, & Welch, 2001; Sitkin & Weingart, 1995). The positive impact of wealth on risk perception looms large in societies with harsh thermal climates when resources are particularly important to meet the need for thermal comfort (Van de Vliert et al., 2009). Accordingly, I propose the following hypothesis (see Figure 1 for the hypothesized mediated moderation model).

Hypothesis: At the societal level, the interaction of thermal climates (harshness) and wealth is positively related to generalized social trust, mediated by uncertainty avoidance.

Figure 1.

A Climatoeconomic Contextualization of Generalized Social Trust Mediated by Uncertainty Avoidance

Method

Sample

I collected archival data from the World Values Survey (1981-2008) and various online sources (no common source bias). A total of 67 societies (218,385 individuals) were included in the sample. These societies were included because they had available data for the variables of interest.

Measures

Dependent Variable

Generalized social trust

Individuals who responded to the World Values Survey question regarding generalized social trust (Inglehart, Basañez, Diez-Medrano, Halman, & Luijkx, 2004) made a dichotomous choice between “most people can be trusted” or “can’t be too careful.” Research has shown societal differences in generalized social trust (Ferrin & Gillespie, 2010). This measure is stable and reliable and has robust predictive value (e.g., Neville, in press). I used the percentage of those who chose “most people can be trusted” (e.g., Bjørnskov, 2006) as the index of generalized social trust, ranging between 0 and 100. A one-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov test indicated that the index was normally distributed (p = .26).¹

Independent Variables

Wealth

Wealth was measured by the logarithm of the average GDP per capita (in 1,000, in PPP terms, constant 2005 International $) in 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, and 2005 from the United Nations Development Program (http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/indicators/20206.html) (Fischer & Van de Vliert, 2011). The missing datum of Taiwan was imputed using regression on GDP per capita (1995) from the Economy Watch (http://www.economywatch.com/economic-statistics/economic-indicators/GDP_Per_Capita_PPP_US_Dollars/1995/).

Thermal climate

The data of societies’ average high and low temperatures were collected from the website of Weatherbase (www.weatherbase.com). Given that 72 °F is the most ideal temperature for thermal comfort (Van de Vliert, 2007a, 2007b, 2011; Van de Vliert et al., 2009), I calculated the absolute difference between the average high temperature and 72 °F and the absolute difference between the average low temperature and 72 °F. Then, I summed up the two absolute difference scores to create an index of a thermal climate, which indicated the average harshness of a thermal climate. A higher value represented a more demanding thermal climate.²

Mediator Variable

Uncertainty avoidance

The data of uncertainty avoidance were collected from Geert Hofstede’s website (http://geert-hofstede.com/countries.html). A higher score of uncertainty avoidance represented a stronger societal tendency to avoid uncertainty.

Control Variables

Diversity

Ethnic and religious diversity can decrease social cohesion or generalized social trust (Alesina & La Ferrara, 2002; Delhey & Newton, 2005; Hero, 2003; Nannestad, 2008; Putnam, 2007). Therefore, I included ethnic diversity and religious diversity as control variables. I collected the data of ethnic diversity from two sources—Alesina, Devleeschauwer, Easterly, Kurlat, and Wacziarg (2003) and Fearon (2003). Their scores of ethnic diversity were highly correlated (r = .89, p < .001) and therefore were averaged as an index of ethnic diversity (α = .94). The data of religious diversity were from Alesina et al. (2003) alone, because Fearon (2003) did not provide them.

Land area

In order to account for the physical size of a society, which can influence the variance of thermal climates, I also included the land area as a control variable. I collected the data from CIA World Factbook (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2147rank.html) and transformed them to their logarithmic forms.

Results

Table 1 presents the descriptive statistics and correlations. The average of generalized social trust across societies was 27.86. Generalized social trust was positively correlated with wealth (r = .34, p < .01) and thermal climates (r = .39, p < .001) and was negatively correlated with uncertainty avoidance (r = −.29, p < .05) and ethnic diversity (r = −.41, p < .001). However, generalized social trust was not significantly correlated with religious diversity (r = −.03, ns) or land area (r = .15, ns).

Table 1.

Descriptive Statistics and Correlations

Variable	M	SD	1	2	3	5	6	7
1. Generalized social trust	27.86	14.50
2. Ethnic diversity	.39	.23	−.41***
3. Religious diversity	.44	.23	−.03	.15
5. Land area	−1.19	2.00	.15	.23	−.07
6. Wealth	2.04	1.12	.34**	−.48***	.08	−.21
7. Thermal climate	30.83	17.92	.39***	−.33**	.10	.10	.47***
8. Uncertainty avoidance	65.75	20.76	−.29*	−.12	−.36**	.09	.08	.05

Note: N = 67.

p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001 (two-tailed).

I employed OLS regression to test my hypotheses at the societal level. I mean-centered thermal climates and wealth before creating their interaction term in order to reduce multicollinearity (Cohen, Cohen, West, & Aiken, 2003). I also mean-centered uncertainty avoidance prior to using it as a predictor of generalized social trust.

Table 2 presents the OLS regression results. With ethnic diversity, religious diversity, and land area controlled for, thermal climates and wealth were not significantly related to generalized social trust (β = .18, ns, and β = .15, ns, respectively). Collinearity statistics suggested no multicollinearity problems (VIFs < 2). The interaction of thermal climates and wealth was positively related to generalized social trust (β = .32, p < .05). A follow-up simple slope test (Aiken & West, 1991) for the interaction showed that thermal climates were positively related to generalized social trust in high-wealth societies (B = .37, SE = .12), t(62) = 3.16, p < .003, but was not significantly related to generalized social trust in low-wealth societies (B = −.23, SE = .25), t(62) = −.91, p = .37 (see Figure 2, using http://www.jeremydawson.co.uk/slopes.htm).

Table 2.

OLS Regression Results

DV: Generalized Social Trust	β	F	R²	ΔF	ΔR²
Step 1
Ethnic diversity	−.33*	5.09***	.29
Religious diversity	.01
Land area	.24*
Thermal climate	.18
Wealth	.15
Step 2
Thermal climate × wealth	.32*	5.50***	.35	5.63*	.06
Step 3
Thermal climate × wealth	.18	7.58***	.47	13.30***	.12
Uncertainty avoidance	−.39***

Note: N = 67.

p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001 (two-tailed).

Figure 2.

The Impact of a Climatoeconomic Interaction on Generalized Social Trust

After uncertainty avoidance (β = −.39, p < .001) was included in the model, the interaction no longer reached significance (β = .18, ns). A mediated moderation test (Muller, Judd, & Yzerbyt, 2005) suggested a significant mediated moderation effect (see Edwards & Lambert, 2007). Table 3 presents the results of the mediated moderation model. The interaction of thermal climates and wealth was significantly related to both the dependent variable (generalized social trust) (B = .27, SE = .13, p < .05) and the mediator variable (uncertainty avoidance) (B = −.45, SE = .21, p < .05). Uncertainty avoidance was significantly related to generalized social trust (B = −.23, SE = .08, p < .01) and reduced the coefficient magnitude of the interaction of thermal climates and wealth to .20 (SE = .13, ns). Finally, the interaction of uncertainty avoidance and wealth was not significantly related to generalized social trust (B = .13, SE = .08, ns), suggesting that the moderation effect occurred between thermal climates and uncertainty avoidance rather than between uncertainty avoidance and generalized social trust. Therefore, the proposed hypothesis was supported.³

Table 3.

Mediated Moderation Model Results

	Step 1	Step 2	Step 3
	Generalized Social Trust	Uncertainty Avoidance	Generalized Social Trust
Predictor	B (SE)	B (SE)	B (SE)
Intercept	25.39 (2.00)***	4.18 (3.14)	25.83 (1.93)***
Thermal climate	.07 (.13)	.30 (.20)	.11 (.13)
Wealth	4.58 (1.87)*	−1.94 (2.94)	5.77 (2.05)**
Thermal climate × wealth	.27 (.13)*	−.45 (.21)*	.20 (.13)
Uncertainty avoidance			−.23 (.08)**
Uncertainty avoidance × wealth			.13 (.08)

Note: N = 67.

*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001 (two-tailed).

Discussion

Generalized social trust is an important part of social capital that facilitates civic engagement, economic development, and social cohesion (Fukuyama, 1995; Knack, 2002; Kramer, 1999; Nannestad, 2008). According to Van de Vliert’s (2007a, 2007b, 2009, 2011) climatic demands-resources theory, a society’s thermal climate and wealth should jointly affect its generalized social trust. Using archival data of 67 societies, I found empirical support for my hypothesis regarding a climatoeconomic contextualization of generalized social trust. The identified result patterns were similar to those of Van de Vliert (2007a). Nonetheless, I found that the interplay of thermal climates and wealth was positively related to generalized social trust, mediated by the adapted cultural dimension—uncertainty avoidance.

Van de Vliert (2007a) found that a climatic demands-resources match led to collective needs for self-expression, whereas a mismatch led to collective needs for survival. Yet his study did not explicate the cultural dimension that mediated the climatoeconomic contextualization of trust. Van de Vliert (2007a) deemed generalized social trust, coupled with heterogeneous items about signing a petition, justifying homosexuality, and general happiness, as a component of self-expression. However, self-expression was an empirically developed construct, which posed a challenge to testing the mediating societal culture that transmitted the climatoeconomic impact on self-expression. My findings about a climatoeconomic contextualization of trust were based on homogeneous, theory-driven constructs such as generalized social trust (Uslaner, 2002; Zucker, 1986) and uncertainty avoidance (Hofstede, 1980). Consistent with Gupta and Hanges’s (2004) claim that “physical climate accounts for small variance in societal culture” (p. 212), I found that the climatoeconomic interaction was only related to uncertainty avoidance, not other cultural dimensions such as individualism-collectivism, masculinity-femininity, and power distance proposed by Hofstede (1983).

Theoretical Implications

The study is no exception to the fact that every research has its weaknesses. For example, the inherent limitation was that the data were cross-sectional, which raised a problem of cause and effect (Delhey & Newton, 2003, 2005); however, based on Hofstede’s theory and Van de Vliert’s theory, generalized social trust should be an outcome variable. The findings have important implications for both trust theory and climatic demands-resources theory.

Trust theory

Social trust is an important psychological state that exists in various social relationships at multiple levels (Frazier et al., 2010; Fulmer & Gelfand, 2012; Kong et al., 2012; Lavelle et al., 2007). The managerial and social psychological literatures on trust have deemed trust as a relationship-specific variable in certain types of social exchange (e.g., leadership, negotiation, teamwork) (Colquitt et al., 2007; Cropanzano & Mitchell, 2005; Dirks & Ferrin, 2001, 2002; Kong et al., 2012; McAllister, 1995). However, trust propensity has been neglected in these literatures. According to Mayer et al.’s (1995) model of organizational trust, trust propensity—“the general willingness to trust others” (Mayer et al., 1995, p. 715) or generalized social trust—can moderate the impact of perceived trustworthiness on trust in social exchange. As Hamamura (2012) noted, generalized social trust tends to have perplexing relationships with particularized social trust (Kraus, Piff, & Keltner, 2009), and sometimes they had no relationship with each other (Glaeser, Laibson, Scheinkman, & Soutter, 2000). Generalized social trust affects a trustor’s assumptions of social interactions and moderates the linkage between a trustor’s perception and trust toward a trustee prior to their interaction (Mayer et al., 1995). Nevertheless, generalized social trust is not developed in vacuum. Rather, it is determined by cultural backgrounds, developmental experiences, and personality traits (Mayer et al., 1995). Social science research has focused on polieconomic rather than ecological determinants of generalized social trust. The current research makes significant contributions by bridging this gap. It shows that generalized social trust is rooted in its ecological context and resultant cultural background. Specifically, in face of demanding thermal climates, societies with adequate wealth-based resources to meet the thermal need enjoy a higher level of generalized social trust than those with inadequate wealth-based resources. In this sense, my findings further Mayer et al.’s (1995) trust model by embedding trust in its ecological context.

The finding that uncertainty avoidance mediated the climatoeconomic impact on generalized social trust has several important implications for trust theory. First, the finding corroborates recent argument and findings that link cultural tightness-looseness and generalized social trust (e.g., Gunia, Brett, Nandkeolyar, & Kamdar, 2011). The dimension of uncertainty avoidance is closely related to the concept of cultural tightness-looseness (Hofstede, 1980, p. 179; Triandis, 2004), which is defined as “the strength of social norms and the degree of sanctioning within societies” (Gelfand, Nishii, & Raver, 2006, p. 1226). Tight cultures have many agreed-upon rules, norms, and standards for appropriate or “correct” behavior. If these rules, norms, and standards are violated, social sanctioning and monitoring will follow. In contrast, there are few agreed-upon rules, norms, or standards that control or correct people’s behavior in loose cultures (Gelfand et al., 2006; Gelfand et al., 2011; Triandis, 2004). Individuals in tight cultures “behave” to avoid institutional monitoring and sanctioning, obviating the need for social trust in cooperation, whereas individuals in loose cultures self-define the range of appropriate behavior, making social trust necessary for cooperation (Gunia et al., 2011; Kong, in press). In other words, individuals in tight cultures rely on institutional trust more than social trust in cooperation, whereas individuals in loose cultures rely on social trust more than institutional trust in cooperation (Gunia et al., 2011; Yamagishi, Cook, & Watabe, 1998; Yamagishi & Yamagishi, 1994).

Second, the finding has ruled out alternative explanations about how the climatoeconomic environment influences generalized social trust. Various cultural dimensions can influence trust (Doney et al., 1998). For example, previous research has shown, directly or suggestively, the positive linkage between individualism and generalized social trust (Allik & Realo, 2004) and the negative linkage between power distance and generalized social trust (Delhey & Newton, 2005). The current finding has clearly indicated that it is uncertainty avoidance that mediates the climatoeconomic contextualization of generalized social trust. Stated otherwise, uncertainty avoidance is the cultural dimension that determines cross-cultural differences in generalized social trust, when climatic factors are considered.

Climatic demands-resources theory

Van de Vliert’s climatic demands-resources theory has its great value in predicting various types of outcomes such as self-expression (Van de Vliert, 2007a), development of social value orientation (Van de Vliert et al., 2009), subjective well-being (Fischer & Van de Vliert, 2011), press repression versus press freedom (Van de Vliert, 2011), the perceived importance of wages (Van de Vliert, Van Yperen, & Thierry, 2008), and destructive leadership cultures (Van de Vliert, Mattiesen, Gangsøy, Landro, & Einarsen, 2010). However, the mediating mechanisms that underlie the climatoeconomic impact on these outcomes have not been examined until recently (Fischer & Van de Vliert, 2011). Fischer and Van de Vliert (2011) found that individualism partially mediated the climatoeconomic impact on subjective well-being. Thus, the current research made a significant contribution to the literature based on Van de Vliert’s climatic demands-resources theory. As Van de Vliert (2009) noted, “climates create cultures.” The ecological context shapes the cultural background of generalized social trust. Given the very limited research on how cultural dimensions or values mediate the climatoeconomic impact on different sociopsychological outcomes, this could be a promising direction for future research.

In practice, shifting collective tendency from uncertainty avoidance to uncertainty tolerance may have an immediate effect on increasing generalized social trust. However, cultural dimensions or values are static (Hofstede, 2001) unless a society can rapidly or suddenly change its wealth-based resources. Wealth accumulation is time-consuming and relies on collective actions. Thus, generalized social trust within a society is very likely to be stable over time. Furthermore, the impact of thermal climates on generalized social trust is not universal but rather is limited to wealthy societies, according to the current research. Thermal climates do not make a difference on generalized social trust in poor societies. Thus, poor societies may not need to factor thermal climates in when designing to enhance their generalized social trust.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Notes

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