Trust in tourism cooperation networks: analysis of its role and linked elements in Parnaíba, Piauí, Brazil

Abstract

This study aimed to demonstrate the role of trust and its linked elements – contracts, support institutions and reciprocity – in the decision-making to cooperate in the tourism sector of Parnaíba, Piauí, Brazil. In this sense, an exploratory and qualitative approach was developed. For data collection, semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine managers of accommodation companies. Data were analyzed with the Content Analysis technique. Findings confirm the existence of several interorganizational cooperation networks in Parnaíba, that the relationships are informal and the cooperation is represented by service recommendation, knowledge/information exchange and promotional actions. The main contribution was to demonstrate the presence of trust within the local networks, but trustworthiness – an individual attribute – was also relevant in the decision to cooperate. In addition, support institutions and reciprocity emerge as complementary bases to trust, while contracts substitute trust and are used only in relationships outside the territory. In the end, eight research propositions are shown, as a result of the empirical study, to be tested on future investigations.

Keywords
Trust; Cooperation; Linked Elements; Touristic Destination