Kurt T. Dirks

Trust in Leadership: Meta-Analytic Findings and Implications for Research and Practice

In this study, the authors examined the findings and implications of the research on trust in leadership that has been conducted during the past 4 decades. First, the study provides estimates of the primary relationships between trust in leadership and key outcomes, antecedents, and correlates (k = 106). Second, the study explores how specifying the construct with alternative leadership referents (direct leaders vs. organizational leadership) and definitions (types of trust) results in systematically different relationships between trust in leadership and outcomes and antecedents. Direct leaders (e.g., supervisors) appear to be a particularly important referent of trust. Last, a theoretical framework is offered to provide parsimony to the expansive literature and to clarify the different perspectives on the construct of trust in leadership and its operation.

The state of psychological ownership: Integrating and extending a century of research.

People develop feelings of ownership for a variety of objects, material and immaterial in nature. We refer to this state as psychological ownership. Building on and extending previous scholarship, the authors offer a conceptual examination of this construct. After defining psychological ownership, they address “why” it exists and “how” it comes into being. They propose that this state finds its roots in a set of intraindividual motives (efficacy and effectance, self-identity, and having a place to dwell). In addition, they discuss the experiences that give rise to psychological ownership and propose several positive and negative consequences of this state. The authors’ work provides a foundation for the development of a comprehensive theory of psychological ownership and the conceptual underpinnings for empirical testing.

Trust in leadership and team performance: Evidence from NCAA basketball.

This study empirically examined the relationship between trust, leadership, and team performance with 2 objectives. The 1st objective was to empirically examine an assumption found in several literatures--that a teams trust in its leader has a significant effect on the teams performance. The 2nd objective was to explore a more complex and dynamic relationship between trust and team performance whereby trust in leadership mediates the relationship between past team performance and future team performance. This relationship is derived by combining theories of trust with an attributional theory of leadership. Survey and archival data from a sample of mens college basketball teams provides support for both hypotheses, indicating that trust in leadership is both a product and a determinant of team performance.

Direct and indirect effects of third-party relationships on interpersonal trust.

Past studies of the determinants of interpersonal trust have focused primarily on how trust forms in isolated dyads. Yet within organizations, trust typically develops between individuals who are embedded in a complex web of existing and potential relationships. In this article, the authors identify 3 alternative ways in which a trustor and trustee may be linked to each other via third parties: network closure (linked via social interactions with third parties), trust transferability (linked via trusted third parties), and structural equivalence (linked via the similarity of their relationships with all potential third parties within the organization). Each of these is argued to influence interpersonal trust via a distinct social mechanism. The authors hypothesized that network closure and structural equivalence would predict interpersonal trust indirectly via their impact on interpersonal organizational citizenship behaviors performed within the interpersonal relationship, whereas trust transferability would predict trust directly. Social network analyses of data gathered from a medium-sized work organization provide substantial support for the hypotheses and also suggest important directions for future research.

Silence speaks volumes : The effectiveness of reticence in comparison to apology and denial for responding to integrity-and competence-based trust violations

Prior research on responses to trust violations has focused primarily on the effects of apology and denial. The authors extended this research by studying another type of verbal response that is often used to respond to trust violations but has not been considered in the trust literature: reticence. An accused party may use reticence in a sincere and even legitimate attempt to persuade a trustor to withhold judgment. Yet, by considering information diagnosticity and belief formation mechanisms through which verbal responses influence trust, the authors argue that reticence is a suboptimal response because it combines the least effective elements of apology and denial. Specifically, reticence is a suboptimal response to an integrity violation because, like apology, it fails to address guilt. And reticence is a suboptimal response to a competence violation because, like denial, it fails to signal redemption. Results from 2 laboratory studies, simulating different contexts and using research participants from 2 different countries, provide support for the prediction. The results offer important implications for those who might use reticence to respond to a perceived trust violation and also for those who must judge anothers reticence.

Many Routes toward Trust: A Social Network Analysis of the Determinants of Interpersonal Trust

This article presents a theoretical framework that identifies three aspects of a social relationship that are critical determinants of interpersonal trust, and examines the differentiated roles that these three aspects of a social relationship play in trust development. The study moves beyond the study of unidirectional trust formation in dyadic interpersonal relationships, which has dominated the current literature, to an exploration of reciprocated trust and social-structural routes toward trust. The framework is tested via a social network analysis of relationships among employees of a multi-departmental, white-collar work organization. Ultimately, it is aimed to enrich existing theoretical and empirical knowledge concerning the determinants of interpersonal trust and also bring a social network perspective into interpersonal trust research. The managerial implications of this study are twofold. First, the results should help managers understand how trust forms among their employees. As organizations s...

THE EFFECTS OF TRUST IN LEADERSHIP ON EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE, BEHAVIOR, AND ATTITUDES: A META-ANALYSIS.

The idea that trust in leadership has an important effect on employee performance, behavior, and attitudes has been recognized across numerous literatures and disciplines. In this paper, we amass a...

Trust Building, Diagnosis, and Repair in the Context of Negotiation

Hong Kong Disneyland, a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company and the Hong Kong government, was conceived during the Asian financial crisis as a strategy for making Hong Kong a major tourist destination and providing Disney with a foothold into the potentially lucrative China market. Unfortunately, the park steadily lost money since opening in September 2005. The Hong Kong Disneyland is the smallest of Disneys theme parks worldwide, having only four “lands.” Many visitors complain that it is too small, with too few attractions to attract them for a second visit. In fact, Hong Kong Disneyland reflects Disneys new strategy of opening parks in phases, rather than trying to build an extensive park all at once as was done in Paris and Florida…

Trust and Team Performance: A Meta-Analysis of Main Effects, Contingencies, and Qualifiers

Cumulating evidence from 123 independent studies (N=8,452 teams), we meta-analytically examine the fundamental question of whether intrateam trust is systematically related to team performance, and the conditions under which it is particularly important. We propose and test a comprehensive framework encompassing seven contingency factors and four qualifiers of the trust-performance relationship. Our findings reveal a significant main effect confirming that intrateam trust is positively related to team performance. The moderator analyses indicate that the trust- performance relationship is contingent upon various forms of structural dependence among members (i.e., task interdependence, team virtuality, authority differentiation), referent of trust and performance objectivity. The qualifier analyses show that the positive trust-performance relationship holds across cognitive and affective dimensions of trust, across effectiveness and efficiency dimensions of team performance, and after controlling for team trust in leader and past team performance. The study contributes to the literature by: 1) integrating studies on trust in teams; 2) resolving mixed findings regarding the trust-performance relationship; and 3) helping to overcome scholarly skepticism regarding the direct effect of trust on team performance.

What are the determinants of interpersonal trust in dyadic negotiations? Meta-analytic evidence and implications for future research

ABSTRACT Given the practical importance of interpersonal trust in dyadic negotiations, scholars have increasingly turned their attention to the study of determinants of trust in negotiations. However, research in this area has not been well connected or integrated, which limits the ability of scholars and practitioners to ascertain the state of current scientific knowledge and identify questions for future research. Based on attribution theory and social exchange theory, we present a conceptual framework for understanding how a variety of factors combine to influence the development of interpersonal trust in dyadic negotiations. Then, to verify the conceptual framework, we identified and meta-analysed findings from a total of 25 independent studies of determinants of trust in negotiations. The meta-analyses provided support for two of the three factors in the conceptual framework – trustor attributes and shared attributes – that are likely to influence an individual’s trust in a negotiation partner. The framework and findings provide valuable scientific insights on trust and negotiation, and also valuable practical insights for negotiation practitioners.