Character‐Based Determinants of Trust in Leaders

Abstract

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.

Implicit Leadership Theories of Bruneians

“…Trust enhances the willingness of individuals to engage in collaborative and helping behavior (Poon, 2006). Chatterjee and Pearson (2002) and Clark and Payne (2006) pointed out that followers gauge the extent of trust they should give to their leader by assessing the leader's integrity, competence, and openness. The trust that forms between followers and the leader can be based on experience and expertise or honesty, openness, and concern (Terwell, Harrinck, Ellenes, & Daanen, 2009).…”

“…Researchers recognize that trust is an important element in building high-quality leader-member relationship (Clark & Payne, 2006). Trust enhances the willingness of individuals to engage in collaborative and helping behavior (Poon, 2006).…”

Trust—A monolithic panacea in land use planning?

“…Indeed, the perception of the attributes of the trusted party and therewith its trustworthiness appear to play a key role in psychological trust research (e.g. Butler, 1991;Mayer et al, 1995;Clark and Payne, 2006). The number of attributes or dimensions that researchers have adopted to conceptualise and to measure trust usually ranges from one to three (e.g.…”

Uma análise dos antecedentes da confiança no líder numa unidade policial de operações especiais

“…Boies, Fiset and Gill (2015) and Ruppel and Harrington (2002) confirm that the quality of communication is a critical factor for trust in the leader. Clark and Payne (2006) identify a strong relationship between perceptions of ability, integrity, fairness and openness to the other, on the part of the follower, as determining factors for the construction of relationships of trust in the leader. Caza (2015) confirms that trust in the leader increases as the subordinate realizes the leader's emotional honesty.…”