Trust and distrust in intra-organisational relationhips

This thesis contributes to the extant body of knowledge of trust and distrust offering insights into influencing factors in intra-organisational relationships. Drawing on interviews with 50 participants from top UK and USA consulting companies, Mayer, Davis, and Schoorman' s ( 1995) trustworthiness dimensions and trustor associated factors are extended; additional adjuvant trust factors that facilitate and reinforce trust development are identified. These findings also advance understanding of trust by distinguishing between person- and task focused natures of trust. Factors influencing distrust are found to be associated with the distrustor, distrustee's distrustworthiness and adjuvant distrust factors which moderate the distrust development. Questions surrounding the relationship between trust and distrust are raised and considered, revealing trust and distrust as separate but highly associated constructs. Highlighting culture as one of the factors influencing trust and distrust, the thesis also explores these relationships. Following a systematic review, insights gained from empirical research are offered. Building on Chao and Moon's (2005) cultural mosaic, a dynamic conceptualisation and operationalisation of culture is discussed, emphasising particularly the importance of additional associative cultural tiles within the global and diverse organisational contexts. The implications of the findings for future research and practice are discussed