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Theoretical economics
Journals / Theoretical economics / Issue 6 / Institutional trust as a factor in economic behavior: an institutional approach
JEL B15 JEL B25 JEL D02 JEL D91 JEL Z13

INSTITUTIONAL TRUST AS A FACTOR IN ECONOMIC BEHAVIOR: AN INSTITUTIONAL APPROACH Institutional trust as a factor in economic behavior: an institutional approach

Published in Theoretical economics · Issue 6 · Pages 13–30 · Rubric: ACTUAL PROBLEMS OF THEORETICAL ECONOMY
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52957/2221-3260-2026-6-13-30
Received: 05.05.2026 Accepted: 11.06.2026 Published: 30.06.2026
Authors
PO
Polina Gorban'
ORCID
ABSTRACT
The article develops a theoretical framework for analyzing institutional trust as a factor shaping economic behavior within contemporary economic theory. Its point of departure is the proposition that, under conditions of increasingly complex economic interaction, the effectiveness of economic decision-making depends not only on a set of formal rules and sanctions, but also on the degree of trust that economic actors place in the institutions that secure the predictability, legitimacy, normative acceptability of these rules. The aim of the study is to systemize the major strands of institutionalism and to construct a theoretical model that makes it possible to interpret institutional trust as a specific mechanism that regulates economic behavior. The study employs comparative theoretical analysis, categorical analysis, interdisciplinary synthesis of institutional economics and the economics of values. It is shown that within old institutionalism, new institutional economics, evolutionary institutionalism, convention theory, economic sociology and comparative institutional analysis, trust occupies different analytical positions. However, in all of these approaches it is associated with the stability of expectations, coordination costs, the reproduction of norms. The article also argues that institutional trust should be understood not as a variable external to institutions, but as an intrinsic characteristic of the institutional order, mediated by perceptions of fairness, reciprocity, legality, responsibility and public benefit. The article’s main scholarly contribution lies in integrating the economics of values into the institutional analysis of economic behavior and in elaborating the functions of institutional trust. The proposed theoretical construct may serve as a framework for further empirical research on the relationship and interdependence between institutional trust and economic behavior, including in large urban agglomerations.
KEYWORDS
institutionalism, institutional trust, formal and informal institutions, economics of values, economic behavior, values, norms, legitimacy of institutions
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