산업과 국가경쟁력 기반요소로서의 한국사회신뢰 평가 (Evaluation of Korean Social Trust as a Fundamental Factor for Industry and National Competence)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국소비자학회
· 수록지 정보 : 소비자학연구 / 24권 / 3호 / 75 ~ 98페이지
· 저자명 : 박상준

초록

유통분야와 소비자 마케팅 분야의 연구들은 기업 간 그리고 기업과 소비자간 신뢰가 지속적 거래의 핵심 요소임을 주장해 왔다. 그러므로 많은 기업들은 다른 기업들과 장기적인 협력 관계를 구축하기 위해 노력해 왔고, 기업과 고객들과의 신뢰를 기반으로 한 중장기적 관계 형성에 대한 관심을 가져왔다. 더 나아가 기업들은 JIT(Just-In-Time)와 EDI(Electronic Data Interchange) 같은 기술의 채택을 통해 시스템 (혹은 가치사슬) 비용(system cost)을 줄일 수 있기 때문에 가치사슬화를 추구해 왔다. 신뢰는 가치사슬 시스템 구축의 핵심 요소라고 할 수 있다. 즉, 가치사슬 시스템을 구성하는 구성원간의 신뢰는 가치사슬 시스템 경쟁력의 핵심요소가 된다. 더 나아가 국가 간 산업 경쟁력의 핵심이 되기 때문에 한 국가의 구성원들이 갖고 있는 일반적인 신뢰는 한 국가의 산업 및 국가 경쟁력과 직결된다. 한 사회 구성원이 동일 사회 구성원에 갖고 있는 신뢰를 학술적으로는 사회신뢰라고 불리운다. 사회신뢰는 사회자본의 핵심요소로서, 거래비용을 줄여주고 집단행동의 문제점을 완화시키는 작용을 하기 때문에, 경제적, 사회적, 정치적 발전에 기여를 하는 것으로 인식되고 있다. 대다수 선행 연구들은 한국의 사회신뢰 수준이 세계 주요 국가에 비해 낮은 것으로 평가하고 있으며, 시계열자료인 세계가치조사에 근거한 연구들은 한국의 사회신뢰가 지속적으로 하락하고 있다고 주장하고 있다. 이는 심각히 우려되는 사안이 아니라고 할 수 없다. 선행연구들은 세계 각국의 사회신뢰 변화 분석을 통해 민주화의 이행과 금융위기 경험을 겪은 국가들의 사회신뢰 하락함에 주목하고, 이를 한국의 사회신뢰의 하락 원인으로 지목하였다. 그러나 1987년 촉발된 민주화 이행이 완료되고, 1997년에 시작된 금융위기가 극복된 시점에서도 사회신뢰가 지속적으로 하락할지에 관해서는 의문을 갖게 된다. 본 연구에서는 시간의 흐름에 따른 동일 세대의 타인에 대한 신뢰 변화 분석을 근거로 한국의 사회신뢰가 하락을 멈추었다는 단서를 제시하고 있다.

영어초록

Marketing literature on marketing channel or consumer marketing has repeatedly shown that trust between firms and between firms and consumers, is a crucial factor in the move from discrete market transactions to continuous exchange relationships. Thus, firms have tried to build their long term relationships with other firms or consumers based on trust. Moreover, they have tried to build a value-chain (or system) to reduce system costs through the adoption of technologies such Just-In-Time (JIT) and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). However, such exclusive relationships also increase the firm's vulnerability to opportunism by partners. Therefore, Trust is considered a fundamental factor in building such relationships.
Other-regarding preferences such as trust, reciprocity and altruism are integral elements in economic transactions between firms, between firms and consumers, between employers and employees, and they are core factors in determining economic performance. Especially social trust (or generalized trust), as a core element of social capital, is known to reduce transaction costs, help solve collective action problems, and contribute to economic, social, and political development. Therefore social trust has been given a great deal of attention across an array of academic disciplines for its role in promoting cooperation among individuals and groups, and for its positive influence on the economic performance of corporations.
The importance of social trust has become widely accepted in the social sciences. Social trust is important because it correlates with a number of other variables that are, for most people, normatively highly desirable. At the individual level, people who believe that most other people in their society in general can be trusted are also more inclined to have a positive view of their democratic institutions, to participate more in politics, and to be more active in civic organizations. They also give more to charity and they are more tolerant towards minorities and to people who are not like themselves. Trusting people also have a more optimistic view of their possibilities of having an influence over their own life chances and, not least important, of being happier with how their life is going.
Most studies [including World Values Surveys (WVS)] describe Korea as a low-trust society than other industrialized countries. Furthermore, previous studies pointed out that Korean social trust has been declining continuously. According to them, Korean social trust was 34.2% in Wave 2(1989-1993), 30.3% in Wave 3(1994-1999), 27.3% in Wave 4(1999-2004), and 30.2% in Wave 5(2005-2007). The argument created serious concerns for Korean scholars and policy makers. It is very important especially for policy makers to know whether or not Korean social trust is continuously declining over the time.
Previous researchers presented the two reasons why Korean social trust has declined over time. One of the reasons is the democratization processes that began with the 1987 citizens’ revolution (or June uprising). They explained that the democratization processes have negative effect on social trust although it has positive effect in the very long run. The other one is the Korean currency crisis that began in 1997. They also explained that the currency crisis has negative effect on social trust. If the democratization processes and the currency crisis were the main causes for declining social trust in Korea, however, one might find clues that Korean social trust is recovering after the democratization processes and the currency crisis.
This paper investigated whether or not Korean trust has declined over time and whether it is expected to decline or to be recovered in the future. Based on the five waves of World Value Surveys which were conducted in Wave 1(1981-1984), Wave 2(1989-1993), Wave 3(1994-1999), Wave 4(1999-2004), and Wave 5(2005-2007), this paper analyzed changes of Korean social trust over the time. The social trust was measured by degree to which a respondent thinks that most people can be trusted.
The results supported the previous studies. As the previous researchers mentioned, Korean social trust has declined from Wave 1 to Wave 3, Wave 4, and Wave 5 due to the democratization processes that began with the 1987 citizen's revolution and the currency crisis that began in 1997. However, they also showed the clues impling that Korean social trust is expected to be recovered in the future.

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