The sustainability of local development depends on social trust and the presence of leaders who emerge from within the community and are embedded in the specific geographical context of each locality. Many local development interventions and programs fail to achieve the necessary continuity and sustainability due to a lack of social trust and low levels of community participation, causing development efforts to come to a halt over time. This has drawn increasing attention to bottom-up approaches, in which social leaders and mutual trust between them and local communities play a prominent role. However, the mechanisms through which trust in such leaders is formed in local development processes remain underexplored. This study aims to explain the factors influencing the formation of social trust in social leaders. The study employed a qualitative instrumental case study approach, with the Resalat Social Development Network defined as the case and data collected from several local settings within the network. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 10 local participants from eight villages covered by the network and analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six-phase thematic analysis.

The findings revealed three organizing themes underlying trust in social leaders: “benevolence and genuine concern,” “honesty and behavioral integrity,” and “leadership capability and social influence.” The findings further showed that, in the local development context examined, “leadership capability and social influence” comprises the leader’s ability to mobilize and develop local capacities, learn from unsuccessful experiences to achieve success, and anticipate the future and articulate a shared vision. In addition, based on the findings, trust in a social leader can facilitate the initiation of cooperation among individuals who previously distrusted one another. Successful experiences of cooperation can, in turn, reduce initial concerns and contribute to strengthening interpersonal trust and sustaining direct cooperation among community members.