Trustworthiness in Higher Education: The Role of Professor Benevolence and Competence

Trust is a fundamental element of educational success. However, compared to what we know about teachers’ perceptions of trust, relatively less is known about students’ perceptions of trust. This paper describes two experimental investigations that tested the effects of authority competence and benevolence on students’ perceptions of trust and their engagement. The investigations also explored whether university identification moderated the influence of authority competence and benevolence on assessments of authority trustworthiness and university engagement. As part of an online experiment administered in the Fall 2010 and the Spring 2011 academic terms, Italian ( n = 211; Study 1) and U.S. ( n = 226; Study 2) undergraduates were primed to identity or not identify with their university before they read one of four scenarios describing a professor’s behavior (i.e., competent and benevolent; competent but uncaring; incompetent but benevolent; incompetent and uncaring). Results showed that students from both Italy and the United States viewed a competent and caring professor as most trustworthy and an incompetent and uncaring professor as least trustworthy. Furthermore, in both countries, students trusted an incompetent and caring professor more compared to a competent and uncaring professor. University identification did not influence trustworthiness.