The Influence Of Power On Trust

China is facing a transition from tradition to modern society today.In recent years,various kinds of dishonesty have aroused wide concern in society and researchers in many disciplines.Based on an existing research of western researchers,this paper explored the relationship between power and trust,and introducedGuanxi into ourstudy to explore the possible influence ofGuanxi on the relationship between power and trust.The research shows that the influence of power on trust and its mediation mechanism is significantly different in different contexts of Guanxi.In this paper,three studies were implemented using the experimental method.First,we duplicated the trust experiment in China,and the experiment were also conducted in a stranger situation;Then,we changed the stranger's experimental situation into acquaintance situation to continue the experiment;Finally,we manipulated Guanxi by “Own people” and “Outsiders” to do the experiment again.It is found that in the case of strangers,the conclusions of foreign experiments are not applicable in China,and power has no effect on trust behavior.In acquaintance situation,power has a positive effect on trust behavior,and high power brings high level of trust.Expectation and perceived trustworthiness are the mediated variables of this process,and the intermediary process is moderated by the “stranger/acquaintance” relationship;the “own person” in the acquaintance has absolute trust advantage over the “outsider” in the change relationship.Without the complex intermediary process,power also can produce high level of trust in “Own person” situation.These findings show that in Chinese society,trust often depends on Guanxi,the effect mechanism of power on trust exists only in the middle ground of Guanxi.No trust between complete strangers but unconditional trust between “own people”,power played its role only in the middle of both.The results of this study can be a cross-cultural comparison with foreign research,and also have some inspiration to understand the relationship between power and trust in the context of China.