Stephen E. Clapham

Organizational Trustworthiness: An International Perspective

Although trust has been widely recognized as a vital component ofrelationships and a critical element to the success of organizations,the literature describing trust and trustworthiness is known for itsvarying perspectives and its inconsistencies. Trustworthiness has beenidentified as a condition precedent to the development of trust.Building upon the established constructs of interpersonaltrustworthiness, we propose a related model containing the sevenconstructs of Competence, Legal Compliance, Responsibility to Inform,Quality Assurance, Procedural Fairness, Interactional Cour-tesy, andFinancial Balance. Citing evidence from trust-related literature, weidentify the utility of these seven constructs in encompassingorganizational trustworthiness as a subjectively perceived aspect oforganizational effectiveness. We analyzed questionnaire data andconducted comparative world-region analyses.

CEO perceptions and corporate turnaround

Abstract CEO decision-making is profoundly impacted by perceptions about organizational identity. In this paper we report on the results of a study of communication patterns in letters to shareholders of a sample of firms that achieved successful turnaround. The results indicate that replacement of the CEO is a common but not essential element of successful turnaround. Results show distinctly different patterns of attribution and communication in turnaround firms that replace the CEO versus those that do not. From these results we identify patterns of communication that seem related to successful turnaround. Implications for over-identification with a firm and management reasoning are discussed.