# A Question of Trust

*O'Neill · Critique & Boundary · Cambridge University Press (BBC Reith Lectures) · 2002 · Open access*

The published version of O'Neill's BBC Reith Lectures, arguing that the proliferation of transparency and accountability mechanisms in public life has paradoxically undermined rather than built trust. O'Neill's central argument: systems designed to demonstrate accountability produce performances of accountability rather than the thing itself. The compliance checklist, the safety audit, the published league table — all create the appearance of transparency while systematically degrading the conditions in which genuine trust and honest account-giving are possible. The mechanism defeats its own purpose. Directly relevant to PS as a critique of accountability-as-surveillance and measurement-as-control, and to the argument that organisations which demand transparency without creating safety will receive performances of transparency rather than honest accounts.

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## Connected concepts (11)

- [Accountability](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/accountability.md)
- [Accountability: The Neglected Social Context of Judgment and Choice](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/tetlock-1985.md) (paper)
- [Affect- and Cognition-Based Trust as Foundations for Interpersonal Cooperation in Organizations](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/mcallister-1995.md) (paper)
- [The Possibilities of Accountability](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/roberts-1991.md) (paper)
- [Blametropism](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/blametropism.md)
- [Just Culture](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/just-culture.md)
- [Learning from Error](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/learning-from-error-or-punishing-it.md)
- [The Unintended Consequences of No Blame Ideology for Incident Investigation in the US Construction Industry](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/sherratt-et-al-2023.md) (paper)
- [Does Performance Improve Following Multisource Feedback? A Theoretical Model, Meta-Analysis, and Review of Empirical Findings](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/smither-london-reilly-2005.md) (paper)
- [Goodhart's / Cobra Effect](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/goodharts-law-campbells-law-and-the-cobra-effect.md)
- [Measuring PS](https://explore.psychsafety.com/n/measure-psychological-safety.md)