Intra-organizational trust in public organizations – the study of interpersonal trust in both vertical and horizontal relationships from a bidirectional perspective

Nina Hasche,Linda Höglund,Maria Mårtensson

doi:10.1080/14719037.2020.1764081

Nina Hasche, Linda Höglund + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1080/14719037.2020.1764081

Copy DOI

Abstract

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to enhance our understanding of intra-organizational trust in public organizations by studying interpersonal trust in both vertical and horizontal relationships from a bidirectional perspective. Previous research has focused on trust at a single level of analysis, ignoring influences from other organizational levels, which has led to gaps in our understanding of trust. In addition, few studies take a bidirectional perspective where a trustor is simultaneously a trustee and vice versa. Through a case study, we contributed to filling this gap by studying the antecedents of trust – ability, benevolence and integrity.

Highlights

The issue of trust covers many research disciplines and levels of analysis
We argue that an integration of trust research across multiple levels in organizations is sorely needed (Fulmer and Gelfand 2012), including the study of trust in both vertical and horizontal relationships, which are seldom investigated in combination (Nyhan 2000; Cho and Park 2011)
The findings further show that the lack of information-sharing ability in vertical relationships resulted in high levels of ability-based trust in horizontal relationships

Summary

Introduction

The issue of trust covers many research disciplines and levels of analysis (for literature reviews, see e.g. Fulmer and Gelfand 2012; Schoorman, Mayer, and Davis 2007; Lewicki, Tomlinson, and Gillespie 2006; Nyhan 2000; Rousseau et al 1998). The issue of trust covers many research disciplines and levels of analysis Reviewing the literature on trust in public organizations, we find mainly two branches of trust research (cf Nyhan 2000; Cho 2008). The first is trust from an external environment perspective, i.e. interorganizational trust, where Bouckaert (2012) identifies three research orientations: societal trust in the public sector, public sector trust in society and trust within the public sector. The two branches of trust research are connected. Newell, Reeher, and Ronayne 2008; Cho and Ringquist 2011; Cho and Lee 2011) argue that understanding interpersonal trust within public organizations is a prerequisite for understanding external environmental perspectives of trust Some researchers (see e.g. Newell, Reeher, and Ronayne 2008; Cho and Ringquist 2011; Cho and Lee 2011) argue that understanding interpersonal trust within public organizations is a prerequisite for understanding external environmental perspectives of trust

Objectives

Discussion

Conclusion