Trust between students and lecturers is essential both in higher education and academic development for parties to fully and openly commit to the learning process and discuss a diverse range of issues, divulge opinions, and personal experiences (Simon and Pleschová 2021). Trust is a psychological state in which the trustor is willing to accept vulnerability to the trustee because they have positive expectations regarding the intentions and the behaviour of the trustee (Mayer et al. 1995).

References

Mayer, R. C., Davis, J. H., & Schoorman, F. D. (1995) ‘An integrative model of organizational trust’, The Academy of Management Review 20:3, pp. 709–734.

Simon, E. and Pleschová, G. (2021) ‘PhD students, significant others, and pedagogical conversations. The importance of trusting relationships for academic development’, International Journal for Academic Development 26:3, pp. 279-291.