The Impact of Trust on the Approach to Management—A Case Study of Creative Industries

Companies operating in the creative industries are struggling with the simultaneous pressure to be innovative and creative, which requires access to unique resources (such as knowledge and creative potential), but also means they must be effective in actions taken. To find a balance between those tensions, they are using the networking approach. Therefore, it seems that networking is becoming a high priority and that being involved in networks is a crucial part of such companies’ business models. Nevertheless, their competitive advantage is based on creative potential, which means that they are rooted in building and maintaining internal relations. As a result, in creative industries, relationships with internal and external stakeholders are crucial, but are strongly based on trust. Thus, the main aim of this paper is to investigate whether trust is the main factor influencing the approach to management. Moreover, we tried to understand the impact of trust on the managerial actions taken. We used the multiple case study research method to examine the role of trust in cooperation, as well as in shaping internal relations in companies operating in the creative industries. To achieve that goal, 10 companies from Poland and Portugal (5 from each country) were investigated in order to find any regularities. By analyzing the research results, it was possible to identify consistencies among the sample and present the main findings. Therefore, four approaches distinguished by the degree of trust were identified. When the level of trust is low, companies are operating within their network based on close relationships, as well as using collective participation where the team is perceived as a key success factor. On the other hand, when the level of trust is higher, companies move towards cooperative management (where the role of competitors is crucial) as well as individual participation (where an employee is engaged in the creative, as well as the decision-making, process). As a result, a theoretical model is proposed that includes the level of trust and the external and internal stakeholders’ perspective. Based on our research, trust can also be added as a fourth ‘T’ to the ‘3T’ (talent, tolerance and technology) concept proposed by Florida (2003)