Character-Based Determinants of Trust in Leaders

Trust is a prominent determinant of effective interpersonal relationships, group process, and organizational development. However, for leaders and managers, trust building is often problematic. The aim of this article is to contribute to a growing understanding of the way in which individual managers can develop trust in organizations, particularly those defined by medium to high risk. The article presents a theoretical and empirical analysis of the nature of trust at work. Building on the results of an earlier study, use is made of the facet-theoretical approach to generate a definitional framework of trust, which focuses on the characteristics of the trusted person that contribute to the development of trust. Using items developed on the basis of a mapping sentence, hypotheses regarding the relations between the definitional framework and empirical observations were tested through smallest space analysis (SSA) of data collected from a sample of 398 bank and hospital employees. The results demonstrate strong support for the definitional system and show a clear association with results of prior research that identify perceptions of ability, integrity, fairness, and openness as key determinants of trust. The empirical structure clearly reflects the attitudinal nature of interpersonal trust at work and the items empirically distinguish distinct character-based components of trust.     

The nature of learning being facilitated by frontline managers

This article, which is based on research conducted at five Australian organizations, explores the role frontline managers play in promoting and facilitating learning at work, an area in the field of workplace learning and human resource development that has not been extensively researched. This article provides a brief review of the literature, outlines the theoretical framework and research methodology and design utilized and presents the research findings and a brief discussion. The results of this study suggest that frontline managers, who were considered leaders of learning within their respective organizations, take an instrumental approach to leading employee learning, that is, learning is seen largely as a mechanism for getting work done. Additional evidence suggests that some frontline managers provide a more expansive learning environment through the purposeful creation of conditions for learning for their employees, beyond the immediate focus on learning, simply for the purpose of getting the work done. A further finding is that much of what frontline managers do in the promotion and facilitation of employee learning is deeply embedded in the idea and practice of being an effective manager. It is hoped that the findings will provide guidance to human resource development and frontline managers in shaping learning at work.     

Navigating the Life Cycle of Trust in Developing Economies: One‐size Solutions Do Not Fit All

Trust is critical to the development and maintenance of collaborative and cohesive relationships in societies, broadly, and in organizations, specifically. At the same time, trust is highly dependent on the social context in which it occurs. Unfortunately, existing research involving trust remains somewhat limited to a particular set of developed economies, providing a window to explore a culture's stage of economic development as a key contextual determinant of trust within organizations. In this article, we review the state of the scholarship on trust and identify those qualities of trust that are common in organizations at similar stages of economic development, referred to as its etic aspects. We then also distinguish those elements of trust that are, to the contrary, culturally specific or emic in nature. We structure our discussion around the “life cycle of trust” (i.e., the creation, maintenance, and postfracture repair of trust) and consider unique factors in its application to developing economies. In doing so, we ground our examination in expository examples through field experience in Haiti. We conclude with the proposal of a framework for future research oriented toward the resolution of remaining theoretical and empirical queries as they relate to trust in developing economies.     

Why do users trust algorithms? A review and conceptualization of initial trust and trust over time

Algorithms are increasingly playing a pivotal role in organizations' day-to-day operations; however, a general distrust of artificial intelligence-based algorithms and automated processes persists. This aversion to algorithms raises questions about the drivers that lead managers to trust or reject their use. This conceptual paper aims to provide an integrated review of how users experience the encounter with AI-based algorithms over time. This is important for two reasons: first, their functional activities change over the course of time through machine learning; and second, users' trust develops with their level of knowledge of a particular algorithm. Based on our review, we propose an integrative framework to explain how users’ perceptions of trust change over time. This framework extends current understandings of trust in AI-based algorithms in two areas: First, it distinguishes between the formation of initial trust and trust over time in AI-based algorithms, and specifies the determinants of trust in each phase. Second, it links the transition between initial trust in AI-based algorithms and trust over time to representations of the technology as either human-like or system-like. Finally, it considers the additional determinants that intervene during this transition phase.     

Mapping and managing productive organizational energy over time: The Energy Pattern Explorer tool

To strategically manage the deployment of collective human resources toward performance, managers must recognize, interpret, and align the volatile resources of productive organizational energy. Despite relevant prior work, research and practice still lack a comprehensive approach toward analyzing and managing energy patterns over time. We develop a framework for temporal configurations and prototypical trajectories of productive organizational energy. We then introduce the ‘Energy Pattern Explorer’ as a strategy tool to: (1) identify and predict actual patterns of productive organizational energy in organizations, and (2) suggest energy leadership activities specific to current and anticipated changes and patterns of productive organizational energy. We provide examples of how managers can use this tool and conclude with suggestions for research and practice.     

Learning in Public Sector Organizations: A Theory of Action Approach

The importance of learning has since long been acknowledged for both business and public sector organizations. However, learning theory and research have tended to neglect the differences between these organizations, and to develop in separate and unrelated directions. To address these developments, this paper purports, first, to develop a theoretical framework that integrates various concepts from the fields of public policy learning and organizational learning, and that is specifically directed at public sector organizations. Second, the paper purports to illustrate the utility of this framework by applying it to policy-making in a Dutch municipality, the Pegasustown prostitution case.     

Frauen entwickeln — Organisationen und Männer nicht?

To develop women — and not organizations and men? To realize equal opportunities it is not enough to coach only women. Approaches like ?Managing Diversity“ and ?Gender Mainstreaming“ teach us to develop organizations and male managers, too. The concluding question is, whether coaching male managers can contribute to equality.     

Dynamic capabilities and employee participation: The role of trust and informal control

While burgeoning research has shown the relevance of dynamic capabilities in terms of managers identifying and pursuing business opportunities, much less is known about the role of involving employees without managerial status in those activities. In this paper, we examine the impact of employee participation on the enactment of dynamic capabilities. The results of our survey-based linear regression analysis show that employee participation is positively related to the dynamic capabilities of a firm. Furthermore, we hypothesize and find that managers can facilitate employee participation through both trust in and informal control of subordinates. Our findings also suggest a positive relationship between informal control and dynamic capabilities, and point to employee participation as a mediator in the relationship between trust and dynamic capabilities. Our results extend the literature on dynamic capabilities by highlighting and demonstrating the important role of employee participation in identifying and pursuing business opportunities through dynamic capabilities as well as the relevance of trust and informal control therein.     

Trust in management and knowledge sharing: The mediating effects of fear and knowledge documentation

Knowledge sharing within and between teams is of vital importance for organizations. The influence of interpersonal trust in general and trust in management in particular on knowledge sharing is evident. However, it is not clear how the relationship between interpersonal trust and knowledge sharing works. This study provides a better understanding of that relationship by demonstrating that fear of losing one's unique value and knowledge documentation have a mediating effect on the relationship between trust in management and knowledge sharing. Specifically, trust in management increases knowledge sharing through reducing fear of losing one's unique value and improving willingness to document knowledge. These findings have important implications at both a managerial and theoretical level. For managers, this paper emphasizes the individual's central role in the knowledge sharing process in terms of knowledge documentation and fear of losing one's unique value. On the theoretical level, this study provides empirical evidence for two mechanisms that help explain the effect of trust in management on knowledge sharing. In future research, this study could be extended to include other psychosocial phenomena that enable knowledge sharing in organizations.     

Can subordinates benefit from Manager’s gossip?

Every story has two sides, so does gossip. Unlike prior studies that condemn gossip, our research analyzes whether managers’ gossip benefits subordinates. Gossip is informal conversation about other people who are absent at the scene, and gossip may be positive or negative. Positive gossip contains positiveness and appreciation, whereas negative gossip encloses negativeness and depreciation. We propose that managers’ positive gossip acts as commitment facilitator, implying a sense of recognition to subordinates. We also propose that subordinates appreciate such recognition by showing commitment toward managers. Research data are gathered from anonymous questionnaires that are distributed to 117 managers and 201 subordinates from five industries in Taiwan. Bootstrapping and structural equation modeling techniques are used to analyze the data. Managers’ positive gossip is found to be correlated with subordinates’ commitment toward managers, which also mediates subordinates’ perception of well-being, team empowerment, and job embeddedness. Yet, manager’s negative gossip is not correlated with any research variables. Our research is the first of its kind to explain why managers’ gossip has potential to be a commitment facilitator, and has brought news insights into gossip literature. Implications of the research findings also help reduce the bias associated with workplace gossip.     

A Person-Environment Fit Model for Virtual Organizations

While the increasing sophistication of information technology has led to the spread of virtual organizations, there has been very little research on what factors contribute to individuals’ effectiveness in such organizations. This paper argues that organizations possess different degrees of virtuality based on four dimensions of temporal, spatial, cultural, and organizational dispersion. Using a person-environment fit framework, a theoretical model that identifies individual qualities required to fit into virtual organizations, virtual teams, and virtual jobs is developed, taking into account dimensions and degrees of virtuality. Mechanisms for enhancing fit in virtual organizations as well as theoretical and practical implications of the model are addressed.     

组织中上下级值得信任的行为研究

组织中的信任关系已经成为研究的热点问题。在文献基础上,本研究采用半结构化访谈的研究方法,对42名管理人员进行访谈。通过编码和统计分析,结果发现,上下级值得信任的行为可以分为能力任务、支持相容、道德诚信、尽责敬业四个方面,但是行为内容和强调重点均有所区别。能力因素是组织中的信任强调的首要方面;对上级的信任更强调支持关怀和诚信道德,对下属的信任更强调尽责投入和坦诚忠实。     

Towards a Framework of Trust Attribution Styles

The issue of trust has attracted considerable business and management inquiry over the last decade, due to its impact on working relationships within and between organizations. Given its importance, it is fundamental for management to be able to foster trust and thus necessary to accurately diagnose the current state of trust in their organization. However, diagnosing trust in real contexts is challenging due to its taboo and tacit nature. Hence, a surreptitious approach to data gathering and analysis may be required to elicit honest accounts from participants about trust. This paper contends that attribution theory can provide the basis for the development of such an analytical framework by enabling researchers to analyse field data about organizational life. The paper presents literature that highlights the appropriateness of attribution style analysis for explaining trust. It presents a taxonomy of trust‐related terms, and proposes a framework of distinct attribution patterns for each term to systematize the diagnosis of trust in situ. The paper concludes with a discussion about the value of the framework for trust research and directions for future work.     

Cooperation in the Face of Conflict: Effects of Top Managers’ Trust Beliefs in their Firms’ Major Suppliers

As with any relationships, those between buying firms and their major suppliers are likely to experience situations of conflict. When facing such situations, top managers tend to approach conflict either cooperatively or competitively. However, when and why top managers tend towards cooperation or competition is far from clear. This study proposes a novel link between the theory of cooperation and competition and the discounting principle of attribution theory to argue that it is top managers’ trust beliefs in their firms’ major suppliers that influences their intended approach to conflict. Using survey data from 140 C‐level managers and business owners, the authors develop and test a model that differentiates between two attributional dimensions of trust (competence and goodwill) and the specific relational conditions that influence how these attributions operate. The results indicate that top managers’ trust in their suppliers’ competence and goodwill is, in fact, decisive in determining how they intend to approach conflict. Further, the authors demonstrate that a top manager's trust belief in the supplier's goodwill is of particular relevance in driving the top manager to cooperate in the face of conflict. However, this link seems to be contingent on the specific conditions of the buyer–supplier relationship in question.     

Examining Public Trust in Risk‐Managing Organizations After a Major Disaster

This research investigates the public's trust in risk‐managing organizations after suffering serious damage from a major disaster. It is natural for public trust to decrease in organizations responsible for mitigating the damage. However, what about trust in organizations that address hazards not directly related to the disaster? Based on the results of surveys conducted by a national institute, the Japanese government concluded, in a White Paper on Science and Technology, that the public's trust in scientists declined overall after the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake. Because scientists play a key role in risk assessment and risk management in most areas, one could predict that trust in risk‐managing organizations overall would decrease after a major disaster. The methodology of that survey, however, had limitations that prevented such conclusions. For this research, two surveys were conducted to measure the public's trust in risk‐managing organizations regarding various hazards, before and after the Tohoku Earthquake (n = 1,192 in 2008 and n = 1,138 in 2012). The results showed that trust decreased in risk‐managing organizations that deal with earthquakes and nuclear accidents, whereas trust levels related to many other hazards, especially in areas not touched by the Tohoku Earthquake, remained steady or even increased. These results reject the assertion that distrust rippled through all risk‐managing organizations. The implications of this research are discussed, with the observation that this result is not necessarily gratifying for risk managers because high trust sometimes reduces public preparedness for disasters.     

虚拟世界网络用户生活方式测量模型研究

近年来,以"第二人生"为代表的虚拟世界在互联网应用领域所产生的影响及其蕴含的巨大商机已经引起企业界的高度重视.然而,关于虚拟世界的理论研究目前仅处于起步阶段,尚缺乏对虚拟世界用户生活方式等行为规律系统深入的认识,可供借鉴的研究方法和测量工具也很有限.基于现有的关于现实世界消费者生活方式和网络用户生活方式的研究,提出虚拟世界生活方式的概念及其测量模型,并采用在"第二人生"中进行街头拦访和问卷调查的研究方式荻取数据,对该模型进行量表设计和实证分析;通过探索性因子分析和验证性因子分析,初步建立包含个性满足、人际交往、社会融入和虚拟体验4个维度的虚拟世界生活方式测量模型,用以综合反映虚拟世界居民的行为、兴趣、价值观和态度等基本特征.为今后关于虚拟世界居民生活方式的研究与应用提供可以借鉴的测量工具,同时也表明在虚拟世界进行街头拦访这一实证研究方法具有可行性.     

A Holistic Framework for Trust in Online Transactions

This paper systematically reviews previous studies of trust from social, economic and technological perspectives and develops a holistic framework for trust, which can be used to analyse the establishment and maintenance of trust in online transactions, and identify the mechanisms that can be used to increase trust. Trust plays a crucial role in the formation of dependent relationships represented by online transactions, and a holistic treatment of trust is necessary because of the gap that exists between the developments in information systems and our understanding of their social and economic implications, and the impact on the perceived trust of the transacting parties. This review enables us to depict an online transaction through its attributes and context, and systematically map these to identified trust antecedents. The key components and processes of the framework are outlined, and three strands of empirical work are discussed to develop it further. The framework highlights the critical role of institutions in the establishment and maintenance of trust in online transactions, which informs the development of e‐commerce and e‐business platforms and the underpinning information systems, and facilitates the establishment of mechanisms to induce additional institutions to increase trust in online transactions.     

Cultural intelligence: An identity lens on the influence of cross-cultural experience

Cultural intelligence (CQ) is an increasingly valuable asset for managers, employees, entrepreneurs, and their organizations. While there is now considerable evidence for its benefits, knowledge remains cloudy surrounding its antecedents. Drawing on identity theory, we develop a model unpacking the relationship between cross-cultural experience—a core antecedent with mixed findings in extant research—and CQ. We advance multicultural identity as a pivotal intervening variable and probe the role of self-verification striving as an identity-based boundary condition. Across two interlocking studies, we find evidence for how CQ can be cultivated from a range of increasingly common forms of cross-cultural experiences. In doing so, we shed light on the mixed results in prior research and provide key implications for future research; namely, multicultural identity helps to better account for when and how individuals translate their cross-cultural experiences into CQ.     

Workplace trust as a mechanism of employee (dis)advantage: The case of employee socioeconomic status

Early work on trust in social science highlighted how the lack of trust between individuals can cause social division, contribute to social stratification, and reduce economic opportunities for people from all social groups. We integrate this work with organizational research on antecedents of trust to generate predictions explaining when and why low employee socioeconomic status (SES) can be a barrier to trust. We discuss how this process can impair the success of both organizations as well as their lower-SES employees. We present a model, and data, suggesting that lower-SES employees will be both more distrusted as well as more distrustful relative to their higher-SES colleagues. This, in turn, locks them out of potentially advantageous social and economic exchanges. Our theory adds precision in detecting when and why lower-SES employees face barriers to success in organizations, as well as provides a blueprint for studying the impact of trust on socially disadvantaged groups in organizations.