Murray Clark

Dispositional and situational determinants of trust in two types of managers

This paper reports on a study of 398 people employed in two UK service organizations: a hospital and two divisions of a high street bank. The main purpose of the study was to determine the degree to which dispositional factors (predisposition to trust and trait anxiety) and situational factors (seven aspects of the job environment) predicted a persons reported trust in their managers. Two types of managers were investigated: a persons immediate line manager and ‘senior managers in their industry’. It was hypothesized that the dispositional factors would have a greater influence on trust in managers in the industry and that situational factors would have a greater influence on trust in ones immediate line manager. The first hypothesis was supported, but the second was not. It was found that trust in both types of managers was best predicted by a combination of general disposition to trust (not trait anxiety) and situational factors: five of the seven situational factors had a role in predicting intention to trust. This reflects the complexity involved in predicting trust at work and the managerial challenge of creating a trusting culture.

Character-Based Determinants of Trust in Leaders

Trust is a prominent determinant of effective interpersonal relationships, group process, and organizational development. However, for leaders and managers, trust building is often problematic. The aim of this article is to contribute to a growing understanding of the way in which individual managers can develop trust in organizations, particularly those defined by medium to high risk. The article presents a theoretical and empirical analysis of the nature of trust at work. Building on the results of an earlier study, use is made of the facet-theoretical approach to generate a definitional framework of trust, which focuses on the characteristics of the trusted person that contribute to the development of trust. Using items developed on the basis of a mapping sentence, hypotheses regarding the relations between the definitional framework and empirical observations were tested through smallest space analysis (SSA) of data collected from a sample of 398 bank and hospital employees. The results demonstrate strong support for the definitional system and show a clear association with results of prior research that identify perceptions of ability, integrity, fairness, and openness as key determinants of trust. The empirical structure clearly reflects the attitudinal nature of interpersonal trust at work and the items empirically distinguish distinct character-based components of trust.

Developing business school/SMEs collaboration: the role of trust

Purpose – To investigate the initiation and development of effective business relationships, including knowledge transfer partnerships, with the primacy of trust as a key factor for collaborative development. Specifically, the aim was to explore Vangen and Huxhams (2003) notion of a “trust building loop” in the context of a Northern (UK) Business School and regional SMEs.Design/methodology/approach – The methodological approach employed was the “General Analytic Induction” for the interpretation of the data. This was used to develop theory inductively from 23 in‐depth interviews.Findings – The results emphasized that trust, especially trust in individuals, is fundamental to collaborative settings, from both practitioners’ and academic points of view. The study identified barriers and drivers to initiating trust‐based relationships and a model of initiating collaboration was suggested.Practical implications – The benefits from the research were seen as facilitating the development of effective business re...