[DSRP Evidence](https://dsrpevidence.org/)

# The Dynamics of Trust: Path Dependence in Interpersonal Trust

## Details

**Authors** J. D. Caddell; Roshanak Nilchiani

**Year** 2023

**Publisher** IEEE Engineering Management Review, 51, 148-165

**Kind of work** article

**Discipline** Business & Management

**Secondary disciplines** Engineering

**Reading level** technical

**Kind of engagement** scholarly

[Read it at the publisher](https://doi.org/10.1109/EMR.2023.3285098) 
10.1109/EMR.2023.3285098

## In authors' words

### Abstract

“Interpersonal trust is a critical factor in the success and effectiveness of organizations, influencing information sharing, decision-making, task distribution, and overall team performance. However, trust levels within organizations often exhibit a bimodal distribution… Using an abductive approach to theory development, we map artifacts from the interpersonal trust literature using Distinctions, Systems, Relationships, Perspectives, i.e., DSRP to identify essential components for constructing a system dynamics model.”

### What they set out to do (purpose)

An abductive theory-development and simulation study. The authors first synthesize prior interpersonal-trust research using DSRP, represent the resulting structure graphically, translate that structure into a system-dynamics model, formalize it mathematically, and simulate alternative organizational trust scenarios.

### What they found (results)

Interpersonal trust is strongly path dependent. Initial assessments of trustworthiness can push otherwise similar people toward very different long-term trust trajectories because reinforcing feedback amplifies early differences. High initial trust generates more consequential assignments, more opportunities to perform, and more experience; low initial trust activates the same loops in the opposite direction. Even small random performance noise can push an initially balanced relationship toward a high- or low-trust attractor. The main managerial leverage points are therefore initial trustworthiness assessments and opportunities to enact trust behaviors.

## Commentary

### In short

Strong supportive application. The authors explicitly use DSRP to map artifacts from the interpersonal-trust literature, identify the essential components of the phenomenon, and provide the conceptual structure from which they construct a mathematical system-dynamics model.

### In more detail

DSRP is used to construct Figure 2, where concepts are represented as distinctions, nested into systems/subcomponents, and connected through relationships. The authors then convert these structures into a system-dynamics model. The model centers on Member A's perception of Member B's trustworthiness, incorporates balancing and reinforcing feedback loops, and simulates how trust changes over time. The resulting model reproduces the high/low bifurcation reported in trust literature and identifies initial conditions as a leverage point. The authors explicitly acknowledge that this is not formal historical-data validation, but argue that the simulated behavior corresponds to established trust findings.

### Response

J. D. Caddell is faculty at the United States Military Academy, whose Department of Systems Engineering teaches DSRP among the foundations of its curriculum. The authors use DSRP to synthesize the interpersonal trust literature, represent the resulting structure graphically, then translate it into a system dynamics model they formalize and simulate. The four patterns do the structuring work the mathematics is built on, in IEEE Engineering Management Review rather than a systems thinking venue.

**Patterns it shows** D, S, R, P

Shows it makes a difference

## Refers to

- [USMA West Point System Engineering Course](https://dsrpevidence.org/element/221)

## Questions it bears on

- Referred to by: [USMA West Point System Engineering Course](https://dsrpevidence.org/element/221)

**Added** 2026-08-28

**How to cite this** J. D. Caddell; Roshanak Nilchiani (2023). The Dynamics of Trust: Path Dependence in Interpersonal Trust. IEEE Engineering Management Review, 51, 148-165.