Toward a contemporary understanding of organizational trust in socio‐economic systems: Connecting theoretical perspectives of the management and business ethics literature

Abstract

AbstractThis paper provides a comprehensive overview of the evolution of 30 years of academic research on organizational trust in socio‐economic practice in the management and business ethics literature. A systematic review of 160 papers published in leading management and business ethics academic journals reveals two interpretations—one based on a transactional, cause‐and‐effect idea of the benefit of trust within relationships (or utilitarian trust), and one based on personal, sincere, and virtuous attributes of character allowing the participant to engage in trusting (or virtuous trust). Our review contributes an analysis of the state of prior research and the literature's intertextual coherence which allows problematization of the current theory and identification of opportunities for further contributions. Future work could be based on the interconnections among these two research traditions, ways to expand the current understanding of utilitarian trust, and proposals for a basic moral framework to support virtuous trust from the perspective of an understanding of trust in the socio‐economic practice in which contemporary trust problems arise. Our reinforcement of the theoretical underpinnings of trust also offers practical guidance as it sheds light on trust's nuanced dimensions in complex organizational and socio‐economic environments.