Trust repair in business process outsourcing: A multi-case study in China

Abstract

In this paper, a multiple-case study is conducted on trust repair of business process outsourcing (BPO). Based on the trust theory, the attribution theory and the dynamic bilateral theory, we established an organizational bilateral trust repair model, to elaborate the trust repair mechanism from the bilateral perspective of the trustor and the trustee. Through these case studies, we verify that from the perspective of the trustor, the trust violation and repair process comprises four stages: the trust balance stage, the trustor's responsive stage, bilateral interaction, and final settlement. Meanwhile, the trust repair process, in the perspective of the trustee, follows four stages, which are successively the trust violation state, the attribution state, the state repair, and the state restoration. We propose our strategy by integrating cognition repair and affect repair. We also systemized an assortment of tactics for trust repair in BPO.