Building Trust in a High Power Distance Context: The Role of the Perception of Integrity in Shared Leadership

Abstract

This longitudinal study aims to understand whether and how it would be possible to develop high trust organizations within a nationwide context of low trust. We conducted a qualitative and quantitative study at BOPE, a special police unit of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, aiming to understand its capacity to cope with high personal risk for troop members and civilians. We hope that when understanding the factors that contribute to the development of organizational trust in a low-trust national context, it is possible to improve the knowledge to enhance the organization’s effectiveness. Our results confirm a relation between trust and the predisposition to accept high risk. Our observation demonstrates that shared leadership reduces information asymmetry and increases the perception of transparency, which positively affects the perception of the direct leaders’ integrity. The continuous access to reliable information and participative planning increased the perception of the leaders’ integrity, thus motivating engagement and reciprocity. Shared leadership reduces PDI and increases reliability and foreseeability by strongly reducing the gap between conception and execution and the information asymmetry between leaders and the led, increasing the propensity to trust.