Abstract

Trust diffusors are persons or institutions that are already trusted and work as advisors on the potential trustworthiness of other persons or institutions. This article aims to underline the strategic role of trust propagators for the extension of interpersonal and institutional trust in Western societies. The author claims that a trust policy has to promote trust diffusors expecially those who stimulate "active trust" and social innovation. This difficult task seems inevitable if we want to contrast the decline of generalized trust in Western societies reported in many studies and polls.