Understanding the Relations Between Internal Controls, Trust, and Cooperation Within an Organization

Abstract

Coletti, Sedatole, and Towry (2005) provide seminal evidence that controls can increase trust and cooperation. Garrett, Livingston, and Tayler (2018) replicate and extend Coletti et al. (2005), providing evidence that the results extend to different tasks and to individuals in non-interactive settings. We discuss the contribution of Garrett et al. (2018) against the backdrop of the current state of the literature on internal controls, trust, and cooperation, and provide a number of possible extensions researchers might pursue to learn more about the boundaries of controls.