Ellen M. Whitener’s research while affiliated with University of Virginia and other places

In many approaches to interpersonal and organizational trust, researchers focus on employees' perceptions that their managers are trustworthy. We turn the tables, however, and examine the antecedents of managerial trustworthy behavior and the challenge of initiating trust. Drawing on agency and social exchange theories, we present an exchange relationship framework that identifies organizational, relational, and individual factors that encourage or constrain managerial trustworthy behavior.

Imagine driving into work one day and hearing over the radio that your employer had agreed to merge with a rival firm and that the combined company would probably employ at least 10 percent fewer workers. Ciba Geigy employees experienced this scenario in 1996, when they were surprised to learn about their company’s planned merger with Sandoz. In a perfect world, this would never happen. Good news or bad, employees could trust management to give it to them straight, to mean what it said, and always to follow through on promises.

Prior meta-analytic evidence has indicated no association between relationship length and perceived trustworthiness. Viewing trustors as information processors, the authors propose a model in which relationship length, although having no direct effect on perceived trustworthiness, moderates the association between perceived trustworthiness and the basis on which people decide to trust each other. Specifically, as trustors learn about others, they base their trust on different kinds of information (demographic similarity, trustworthy behavior, and shared perspective). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses of a field survey of supervisors and subordinates from 3 companies (N = 88) provide evidence consistent with this prediction: Perceived trustworthiness is associated with demographic similarity in newer relationships, with trustworthy behavior in relationships that are neither brand new nor old but in-between, and with shared perspective in older relationships.

Exploring an extension of social identity theory using manager-subordinate relationships, we found that trust is based on different expectations at different stages in relationships: depersonalized social attraction (e.g., demographic similarity) in new relationships; individualized social attraction (e.g., shared perspective) in longer relationships; and trustworthy behaviors, only transitionally, during middle-stage relationships.

The authors explored the role of attributions in shaping employees' trust in their managers in the context of negative events. The authors examined how 2 forms of managerial trustworthy behavior (open communication and demonstrating concern for employees) and organizational policies relate to attributions, trust in the manager, and organizational citizenship behavior. Participants were 115 credit union employees who responded to a critical incident regarding a disagreement with their managers. As hypothesized, trustworthy behavior was negatively related to attributions of personal responsibility for negative encounters, and this relationship was stronger when human resource policies were perceived as unfair. Managerial trustworthy behavior was also positively related to trust in the manager and organizational citizenship behavior. Personal attributions partially mediated the relationship between trustworthy behavior and trust.

The authors explored the role of attributions in shaping employees' trust in their managers in the context of negative events. The authors examined how 2 forms of managerial trustworthy behavior (open communication and demonstrating concern for employees) and organizational policies relate to attributions, trust in the manager, and organizational citizenship behavior. Participants were 115 credit union employees who responded to a critical incident regarding a disagreement with their managers. As hypothesized, trustworthy behavior was negatively related to attributions of personal responsibility for negative encounters, and this relationship was stronger when human resource policies were perceived as unfair. Managerial trustworthy behavior was also positively related to trust in the manager and organizational citizenship behavior. Personal attributions partially mediated the relationship between trustworthy behavior and trust.

Relying on a cross-level paradigm and on social exchange theory (i.e., perceived organizational support) I explore the relationships among human resource practices, trust-in-management, and organizational commitment. Individual-level analyses from a sample of 1689 employees from 180 credit unions indicate that trust-in-management partially mediates the relationship between perceived organizational support and organizational commitment. Cross-level analyses using hierarchical linear modeling indicate that human resource practices affect the relationship between perceived organizational support and organizational commitment or trust-in-management.

In many approaches to interpersonal and organizational trust, researchers focus on employees' perceptions that their managers are trustworthy. We turn the tables, however, and examine the antecedents of managerial trustworthy behavior and the challenge oi initiating trust. Drawing on agency and social exchange theories, we present an exchange relationship framework that identifies organizational, relational, and individual factors that encourage or constrain managerial trustworthy behavior.

Different currencies and different cultures explain many of the distinctions between domestic and international business and financial operations. Courses in international business primarily focus on currency issues; however, they should include consideration of related-cultural differences as well. We describe a classroom exercise rooted in the research on differences in cultural values that introduces students to the variety and discomfort of those differences, while providing a context for discussing the influence of culture on a firm's managerial and financial operations.

Most of the literature on HR activities and trust has presumed that employees' trust affects the success and effectiveness of HR activities. However, social exchange theory suggests an alternative and complementary notion—that HR activities affect the development of employee trust. Previous research and exchange-based theories, including organizational justice, leader-member exchange, spiral reinforcement and perceptions of organizational support, suggest hypotheses that need to be investigated in order to understand the relationship between HR activities and trust better and to design HR activities to build trust and improve organizational effectiveness.