A Study on Interpersonal Trust in Taiwanese University Campus

All related parties including school administration, parents, and students themselves must have an optimistic expectation from the instructors. What’s more, given the nature of education, instructors could exert great influence on their students. A lack of interpersonal trust will definitely hinder a university from functioning efficiently.

On the contrary, a trust-inspiring environment in campuses will help enhance effectiveness of our higher education, and eventually facilitate a trustworthy society. The present study examined the degree of trust shown by university students toward the society, the faculty, the classmates, and the schools. We found that the students demonstrated an overall low trust levels and that the trust level toward society was significantly the lowest.

With a five-point Likert scale, only the average trust level to classmates reached the midpoint. Other meaningful findings were that the males showed much higher trust in their schools and that the students in science and engineering demonstrated significantly higher trust in their professors that those students in education. Implications of these findings were discussed and suggestions were made.