Investigating the Effective Factors on Students' Trust in Professors of Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman

Students' trust in professors represents the quality of the relationship between students and teachers and shows the nature of interpersonal relationships. Trust is one of the main components of social capital which plays an important role in promoting collaboration, decision-making and adherence to group rules, improving the teaching and learning processes, improving the academic performance of students and increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the university system. The article aims at studying the students' trust in professors in shahid bahonar university of Kerman. Undergraduate and graduate students of university represented the statistical population of the present study. The research sample consists of 525 individuals who were selected using stratified sampling method. The findings show a significant relationship between independent variables of teacher interaction with students, evaluation of academic facilities, perception of professors' ability, benevolence and fairness, and trust (generalized trust) and the dependent variable of trust. Furthermore, the results indicate that the variables of social interaction and evaluation of academic facilities affect the dependent variable, indirectly and through the mediating variables of ability, benevolence, and fairness. Finally, the results show that the social interaction has the most direct and indirect effect compared to other independent variables on the trust of students in professors.