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Good morning, 

I'm not sure if this is exactly what you're looking for, but perhaps Mayer and Gavin's (2005, AMJ) measure of "ability to focus" is relevant. Some of the content seems to center on politics in the organization, but there are also items such as "in this company you need to make sure you 'cover your backside'," and "I need to spend a fair amount of my time getting information to protect myself." I believe, empirically, it would be justifiable to make the target more about one's coworkers than the organization itself, but others may have thoughts on that.

Best of luck,

Jessica

Dear Kira,

I asked a friend (Laura VanderDrift) of mine in the psychology department at Syracuse U who works on close relationships (because it seemed likely that vulnerability is connected to close relationships). Here is what she said (below).

Hope this helps!

Kris

 

I have a perceived vulnerability as it relates to individuals' assessment of their partners' impact on their own health (as a predictor of condom use is the primary use for such a measure)... I can't think of anything off the top of my head that gets at exactly what they're asking about except for maybe avoidant attachment? Here's a good overview of attachment if this person is unfamiliar: https://internal.psychology.illinois.edu/~rcfraley/attachment.htm

 

If that's not exactly right, then perhaps the Risk Regulation Model has something to offer? A lit search on that topic should give the theoretical overview - I am not super familiar with it myself, so I don't know what measures they use, but the general idea is that getting close to others increases risk of harm to the self, so we protect ourself by limiting how vulnerable we are (regulate the risk we're open to, if you will). Seems like it'd be relevant to perceived vulnerability maybe?

 

I also have a perceived harm measure, but it's essentially "my partner causes other people to think less of me," which seems irrelevant.

 

-------------

Laura E. VanderDrift, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Syracuse University
Department of Psychology
410 Huntington Hall 
Syracuse, NY 13244-2340

 

 

Dear Kira,

 

Good question. As trust researchers, we tend to often focus on trust itself, but pay way too little attention to vulnerability (which is actually at the core of the concept). There isn't a lot out there, but here are some suggestions to get you started:

 

-          Vulnerability (like trust) is domain-specific, so one issue to think about is: what area of vulnerability do you wish to measure? I have always found Sheppard & Sherman's (1998, AMR) typology to be quite useful in thinking about this question;

-          Ann-Marie Nienaber has a forthcoming paper, in which she reviews the concept of vulnerability. This may help you understand the concept better. You can download it at: https://www.google.nl/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCsQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.researchgate.net%2Fprofile%2FMarcel_Hofeditz%2Fpublication%2F268444525_VULNERABILITY_AND_TRUST_IN_LEADER-FOLLOWER_RELATIONSHIPS%2Flinks%2F546b408b0cf2397f7831b891.pdf&ei=2G70VP_lG8KuPOj-gJAK&usg=AFQjCNFAk8fByNUFXtA35ZSpxhKdtIS4mg&sig2=wWXfB3Ugru5bQ7gXhhwF2g&bvm=bv.87269000,d.ZWU 

-          The only specific vulnerability measure I know is in an article by Renz (2008), in which examine 'fear of losing one's unique value' in relation to trust.

 

Renzl, B. (2008). Trust in management and knowledge sharing: The mediating effects of fear and knowledge documentation. Omega, 36(2), 206-220.

Sheppard, B. H., & Sherman, D. M. (1998). The grammars of trust: a model and general implications. Academy of Management Review, 23(3), 422-437.

 

Hope this helps!

Bart