When you trust and distrust the other side: The roles of asymmetric power in a policy network

Asymmetric power relations among policy stakeholders have been found to hinder the development of trust that is an essential factor for the creation of ties in the interorganizational policy networks. However, previous studies on networks did not discuss how asymmetric power relations might play a role of building distrust in the regulatory policy networks where policy actors are engaging in creating collaborative as well as conflictual relations with other participants. This study conceptualizes distrust as a distinct concept from the absence of trust, and highlights the value of asymmetric power in managing the coexistence of trust and distrust in regulatory policy networks. To examine how power imbalance is associated with the coexistence of trust and distrust in a regulatory policy network, we conduct a multinomial logistic analysis of a local hydraulic fracturing policy network in New York in a municipality we call Brownsville. We found that Brownsville's fracking policy network is structured based on the coexisting trust and distrust between policy actors'high trust and high distrust as well as low trust and low distrust. Our findings also indicated that power imbalance plays a role in creating high trust-high distrust relations, and presented that how power imbalance interacts with goal incongruence and various types of social exchanges to lead to the coexisting trust and distrust between actors. These findings add a unique contribution to the previous literature on policy networks by providing insights into the functional aspect of asymmetric power and its impact on the bittersweet relationscoexistence trust and distrust in a regulatory policy network.