Signalling trust across cultures

The vendor registration process of a Japanese company in Africa was one of the most complicated and time consuming I have come across in twenty years, and has taught me a further lesson about the important of communication in building trust.

Many of the documents I was asked to provide simply do not exist in the UK, and much of the form I had to fill in was concerned with whether or not my company had connections to the African country’s government. It seemed to me that even if I had such connections, I could just lie.

I realise this lack of trust in suppliers is due to the high levels of corruption and fraud in African countries compared to the UK and Japan. Recent surveys show, however, that even in the UK and Japan, levels of trust in business, government and the media are some of the lowest in the developed world.

Familiarity and soft culture help

On the other hand, the UK and Japan have both become countries which are well trusted by other countries – although the UK has slipped slightly since Brexit. For Japan and the UK the trust is partly born of having been familiar to other countries for many centuries, and a consistency in behaviour – in Japan’s case of being respectful and hospitable and in the UK’s case of being a democratic nation with a rule of law. Both also have strong soft cultures – globally influential due to being the originator of various types of popular culture and sports.  

Established norms and institutions

Both countries have also developed various ways of signalling trustworthiness within their societies. In Japan’s case through showing attention to details such as appearance and manners and nurturing corporate brand names. In the UK’s case there are well established institutions and professional bodies with codes of conduct, which provide a guarantee of trustworthiness.

But it would seem none of these signals translate so well to other countries with less established and consistent norms and institutions. So I had to swallow my pride and any notions of “trust me, I’m British” (unlikely to work well in a former British colony anyway) and do all that was asked.

In the end, the African client set up a phone call, where she guided me through how I could fulfil all the requirements. Communication, and a willingness to go through the process, even if it was just box ticking, are universal ways of building trust.

This article originally appeared in Japanese in the Teikoku Databank News on the 10th of July 2024