Small-scale shrimp farming is widely regarded as a high-risk sector due to growing challenges that demand substantial effort and collective coordination in rural communities. This study examines the impact of social trust beliefs, a key dimension of social capital, on production efficiency and risk in shrimp farming in Vietnam. We employed the stochastic frontier analysis approach and a production variation function, using survey data from 349 small-scale shrimp farms collected in 2022 in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. The results reveal the existence of production inefficiency and production risk. We also find that social trust beliefs toward key stakeholders in rural communities affect both production performance and risk. Greater trust belief in formal networks reduce production risk, whereas trust in informal networks presents a trade-off: it improves technical efficiency but simultaneously increases the risk associated with shrimp yield. However, trust in input providers shows no statistically significant relationship with either production performance or risk. These results provide important insights for policy measures aimed at enhancing both the performance and stability of the shrimp farming sector in developing countries.
