Inter-organisational relationship trust repair: a ranked Delphi study with UK professionals

Abstract

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to provide practical knowledge on how to repair trust within inter-organisational relationships (IORs), and to compare that knowledge to present academic research. IORs have an alarming failure rate upwards of 60 per cent. Although the breakdown of trust is a well-documented critical component of their failure, specific research on IOR trust repair is limited.Design/methodology/approach– The research applied a ranked Delphi study utilising UK professionals’ expertise in IOR management.Findings– The results provide two practical frameworks and several new methods for IOR trust repair; furthermore, they demonstrate consistency between professionally adopted IOR trust repair methods and those proposed academically.Research limitations/implications– The study ' s primary limitations resulted from being conducted at the lower end of its operating window, and only with panellists interested in trust repair. The implications for research are to direct investigations to the new IOR trust repair methods and to test when professionals would undertake trust repair methods.Practical implications– The IOR trust repair frameworks can be utilised retrospectively as a tool kit to repair damaged relationships. Additionally, they can be proactively embedded in IOR contract documentation, whereby parties agree to enact and abide by the frameworks, should relations deteriorate, before proceeding down legal avenues.Originality/value– This paper offers the first contribution from the UK professional community on IOR trust repair; they have provided new research areas for academics as well as practicable, pertinent frameworks for professionals.