Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T15:06:17.480Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Antecedents of Trust across Foci: A Comparative Study of Turkey and China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Syeda Arzu Wasti ,
Hwee Hoon Tan  and
Selin Eser Erdil
Syeda Arzu Wasti
Affiliation:
Sabanci University, Turkey
Hwee Hoon Tan
Affiliation:
Singapore Management University, Singapore
Selin Eser Erdil
Affiliation:
Sabanci University, Turkey
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Instead of importing Western models of intelpersonal trust, we adopted a qualitative approach to understand trust relationships from indigenous cultures' perspectives. We examined trust relationships directed at diilerent foci in the organization (supervisor, peer, and subordinate) in two different countries, Turkey and China. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 Turkish and 30 Chinese employees working for a variety of large-scale organizations located in Istanbul, Turkey and Shenzhen, China. We report the content analysis of trust-building critical incidents narrated by the respondents. While the general antecedents of Ability, Benevolence, and Integrity were found to exist in both countries. Benevolence, with its culture-specific manifestations, played a very important role in trust-building across multiple foci in both countries. We also found that trust relationships in these two contexts tended to go beyond the professional domain, and to involve sharing of personal time, information, and space. Drawing on this evidence, we propose a trust-building process that is more affective in nature and which straddles both work and non-work domains.

Keywords

Chinacross-culturalculturetrustTurkey中国跨文化文化信任土耳其
Type
Regular Articles
Information
Management and Organization Review , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , July 2011 , pp. 279 - 302
Copyright
Copyright © International Association for Chinese Management Research 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aryee, S., Budhwar, P. S., & Chen, Z. X. 2002. Trust as a mediator of the relationship between organizational justice and work outcomes: Test of a social exchange model. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23(3): 267–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aycan, Z. 2001. Human resource management in Turkey: Current issues and future challenges. International Journal of Manpower, 22(3): 252–261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barney, J. B., & Zhang, S. 2009. The future of Chinese management research: A theory of Chinese management versus a Chinese theory of management. Management and Organization Review 5(1): 15–28.Google Scholar
Becker, E. T. 1992. Foci and bases of commitment: Are they distinctions worth making? Academy of Management Journal, 35(1): 232–244.Google Scholar
Bridge, K., & Baxter, L. A. 1992. Blended relationships: Friends as work associates. Western Journal of Communication, 56(3): 200–225.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brower, H. H., Lester, S. W., Korsgaard, M. A., & Dineen, B. R. 2009. A closer look at trust between managers and subordinates; Understanding the effects of both trusting and being trusted on subordinate outcomes. Journal of Management, 35(2): 327–347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, C. C., Chen, X. P., & Meindl, J. R. 1998. How can cooperation be fostered? The cultural ellects of individualism-collectivism. Academy of Management Review, 23(2), 285–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, X. P., & Peng, S. 2007. Guanxi dynamics: Shifts in the closeness of ties between Chinese coworkers. Management and Organization Review, 4(1): 63–80.Google Scholar
Cheng, B. S., Chou, L. F., Wu, T. Y., Huang, M. P., & Farh, J. L. 2004. Paternalistic leadership and subordinate responses: Establishing a leadership model in Chinese organizations. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 7(1): 89–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheng, B. S., Wang, A. C., & Huang, M. P. 2009. The road more popular versus the road less travelled: An ‘insider's’ perspective of advancing Chinese management research. Management and Organization Review, 5(1): 91–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheung, F. M., & Leung, K. 1998. Indigenous personality measures: Chinese excemple. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 29(1): 233–248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chiaburu, D. S., & Harrison, D. A. 2008. Do peers make the place? Conceptual synthesis and meta-analysis of coworker e fleets on perceptions, attitudes, OCBs and performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(5): 1082–1103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Child, J., & Möllering, G. 2003. Contextual confidence and active trust development in the Chinese business environment. Organization Science, 14(1): 69–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chua, R. Y. J., Morris, M. W., & Ingram, P. 2009. Guanxi versus networking: Distinctive configurations of affect- and cognition-based trust in the networks of Chinese and American managers. Journal of International Business Studies, 40(3): 490–508.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colquitt, J. A., Scott, B. A., & LePine, J. A. 2007. Trust, trustworthiness, and trust propensity: A meta-analytic test of their unique relationship with risk taking and job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(4): 909–927.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Deluga, R. J. 1994. Supervisor trust building, leader-member exchange and organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 67(4): 315–326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deutsch, M. 1958. Trust and suspicion. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 2(4): 265–279.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dietz, G., & Den Hartog, D. 2006. Measuring trust inside organizations. Personnel Review, 35(5): 557–588.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dirks, K. T., & Ferrin, D. L. 2002. Trust in leadership: Meta-analytic findings and implications for research and practice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(4): 611–628.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Doney, P. M., Cannon, J. P., & Mullen, M. R. 1998. Understanding the influence of national culture on the development of trust. Academy of Management Review, 23(3): 601–620.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farh, J., Tsui, A. S., Xin, K.; & Cheng, B. 1998. The influence of relational demography and Guanxi: The Chinese case. Organization Science, 9(4): 471–488.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferrin, D,, & Gillespie, N. 2010. Trust differences across national-societal cultures much to do or much ado about nothing? In Saunders, M., Skinner, D., Dielz, G., Gillespie, N., & Lewicki, R. (Eds.), Organisational trust: A cultural perspective: 42–86. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flanagan, J. C. 1954. The critical incident technique. Psychological Bulletin, 51(4): 327–358.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gargiulo, M., & Ertug, G. 2006. The dark side of trust. In Bachmann, R. & Zaheer, A. (Eds.), Handbook of trust research: 165–186. MA: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Gelfand, M. J., Erez, M., & Aycan, Z. 2007. Cross-cultural organizational behavior. Annual Review of Psychology, 58: 479–514.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gelfand, M. J., Leslie, L. M., & Fehr, R. 2008. To prosper, organizational psychology should adopt a global perspective. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 29(4): 493–517.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gillespie, N. 2003. Measuring trust in work relationships: The behavioural trust inventory. Seattle: Paper presented at the Academy of Management Conference.Google Scholar
Gillespie, N., & Mann, L. 2004. Transformational leadership and shared values: The building blocks of trust. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 19(6): 588–607.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guest, G., Bunce, A,, & Johnson, L. 2006. How many interviews are enough: An experiment with data saturation and variability. Field Methods, 18(1): 59–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamilton, D. L., Grubb, P. D., Acorn, D. A., Trolier, T. K., & Carpenter, S. 1990. Attribution difficulty and memory for attribution-relevant information. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59(5): 891–898.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hampden-Turner, C, & Trompenaars, F. 1993. The seven cultures of capitalism. New York: Currency/Double Day.Google Scholar
Hofstede, G. 1980. Culture's consequences: International differences in work related values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Hofstede, G. 2001. Culture's consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions and organizations across nations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
House, R., Hanges, P., Javidan, M., Dorfman, P., & Gupta, V. 2004. Culture, leadership and organizations: The globe study of 62 societies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Ingram, P., & Zou, X. 2008. Business friendships. Research in Organizational Behavior, 28: 167–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kacperczyk, A., Sanchez-Burks, J., & Baker, W. 2008. Multiplexity and emotional energy in cross cultural perspective. University of Michigan. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Kaǧıtçıbaşı, Ç. 1997. Individualism and collectivism. In Berry, J. W., Segall, M. H. & Ç., Kaǧıtçıbaşı (Eds.), Handbook of cross-cultural psychology: 2–49. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.Google Scholar
Katigbak, M. S., Church, A. T., Guanzon-Lapeña, M. A., Carlota, A. J., & del Pilar, G. H. 2002. Are indigenous personality dimensions culture specific? Phillipine inventories and the five-factor model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82(1): 89–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korsgaard, M. A., Brodt, S. E., & Whitener, E. M. 2002. Trust in the face of conflict: The role of managerial trustworthy behavior and organizational context. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(2): 312–319.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kramer, R. M. 1996. Trust and the intuitive auditor at work. In Kramer, R. M. & Tyler, T. R. (Eds.), Trust in organizations: Frontiers of theory and research: 216–245. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langfred, C. W. 2004. Too much of a good thing? Negative effects of high trust and individual autonomy in self-managing teams. Academy of Management Journal, 47(3): 385–399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lapidot, Y., Kark, R., & Shamir, B. 2007. The impact of situational vulnerability on the development and erosion of followers' trust in their leader. Leadership Quarterly, 18(1): 16–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lau, D. C., & Liden, R. C. 2008. Antecedents of coworker trust: Leaders' blessings. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(5): 1130–1138.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lewicki, R.J., McAllister, D.J., & Bies, R.J. 1998. Trust and distrust: New relationships and realities. Academy of Management Review, 23: 438–458.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewicki, R. J., Tomlinson, E. C., & Gillespie, N. 2006. Models of interpersonal trust development: Theoretical approaches, empirical evidence, and future directions. Journal of Management 32(6): 991–1022.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAllister, D. J. 1995. Affect-based and cognition-based trust as foundations for interpersonal cooperation in organizations. Academy of Management Journal, 38(1): 24–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAllister, D.J. 1997. The second face of trust: Reflections on the dark side of interpersonal trust in organizations. In Lewicki, R. J., Bies, R. J., & Sheppard, B. H. (Eds.), Research on negotiations in organizations: 87–111. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.Google Scholar
Mayer, R. C., & Davis, J. H. 1999. The effect of the performance appraisal system on trust for management: A field quasi-experiment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84(1): 123–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayer, R. C., & Gavin, M. 2005. Trust for management and performance: Who minds the shop while the employees watch the boss? Academy of Management Journal, 48(5): 874–888.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayer, R. C., Davis, J. H., & Schoorman, F. D. 1995. An integrative model of organizational trust. Academy of Management Review, 20(3): 709–734.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer, K. E. 2006. Asian management research needs more self-confidence. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 23(2): 119–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mizrachi, N., Drori, I., & Anspach, R. R. 2007. Repertoires of trust: The practice of trust in a multinational organization amid political conflict. American Sociological Review, 72(1): 143–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morris, M. W., Podolny, J. M., & Ariel, S. 2000. Missing relations: Incorporating relational constructs into models of culture. In Earlcy, P. C. & Singh, H. (Eds.), Innovations in international and cross-cultural management: 52–90. Thousand Oaks: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morris, M. W., Podolny, J., & Sullivan, B. N. 2008. Culture and coworker relations: Interpersonal patterns in American, Chinese, German, and Spanish divisions of a global retail bank. Organization Science, 19(4): 517–532.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ng, K., & Chua, R. Y. J. 2006. Do I contribute more when I trust more? Differential effects of cognition and ailect based trust. Management and Organization Review, 2(1): 43–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Niu, C. P., Wang, A. C., & Cheng, B. S. 2009. Effectiveness of a moral and benevolent leader: Probing the interactions of the dimensions of paternalistic leadership. Asian Journal of Psychology, 12: 32–39.Google Scholar
Noorcierhaven, N. G. 1999. National culture and the development of trust: The need for more data and less theory. Academy of Management Review, 24(1): 9–10.Google Scholar
Parsons, T. 1951. The social system. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Pellegrini, E. K., & Scandura, T. A. 2008. Paternalistic leadership: A review and agenda for future research. Journal of Management, 34(3): 566–593.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reichers, A. E. 1985. A review and reconceptualization of organizational commitment. Academy of Management Revievo, 10(3): 465–476.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sanchez-Burks, J. 2005. Protestant relational ideology: The cognitive underpinnings and organizational implications of an American anomaly. Research in Organizational Behavior, 26: 265–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sanchez-Burks, J., & Lee, F. 2007. Cultural psychology of workways. In Shinobu, S. & Cohen, D. (Eds.), Handbook of cross cultural psychology: 346–369. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Schoorman, F. D., Mayer, R. C., & Davis, J. H. 1996. Empovuerment in veterinary clinics: The role of trust in delegation. Paper presented at the 11th Annual Meeting of Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, San Diego, April 1996.Google Scholar
Schoorman, F. D., Mayer, R. C., & Davis, J. H. 2007. An integrative model of organizational trust: Past, present, and future. Academy of Management Review 32(2): 344–354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sedikidcs, C., & Anderson, C. A. 1992. Causal explanations of defection: A knowledge structure approach. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 18(4): 420–429.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stevenson, W. B., & Gilly, M. C. 1991. Information processing and problem solving: The migration of problems through formal positions and networks of ties. Academy of Managetnent Journal, 34(4): 918–928.Google ScholarPubMed
Stinglhamber, F., De Cremer, D., & Mercken, L., 2006. Perceived support as a mediator of the relationship between justice and trust. Group & Organization Management, 31(4): 442–468.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tan, H. H., & Chee, D. 2005. Understanding interpersonal trust in a Confucian-influenced society: An exploratory study. International Journal of Cross-cultural Management, 5(2): 197–212.Google Scholar
Tan, H. H., & Lim, A. K. H. 2009. Trust in coworkers and trust in organizations. The Journal of Psychology, 143(1): 45–66.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tan, H. H., & Tan, C. S. F. 2000. Towards the differentiation of trust in supervisor and trust in organizaiion. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 126(2): 241–260.Google Scholar
Triandis, H. C. 1995. Individualism and collectivism. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Tsui, A. S. 2009. Editor's introduction-Autonomy of inquiry: Shaping the future of emerging scientific communities. Management and Organization Review, 5(1): 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsui, A. S., Nifadkar, S. S., & Ou, A. Y. 2007. Cross-national, cross-cultural organizational behavior research: Advances, gaps, and recommendations. Journal of Managetnent, 33(3): 426–478.Google Scholar
Wasti, S. A., Tan, H. H., Brower, H. H., & Önder, C. 2007. Cross-cultural measurement of supervisor trustworthiness: An assessment of measurement invariance across three cultures. Leadership Quarterly, 18(5): 477–489.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wells, C. V., & Kipnis, D. 2001. Trust, dependency and control in the contemporary organization. Journal of Business and Psychology, 15(4): 593–603.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whetten, D. A. 2009. An examination of the interface between context and theory applied to the study of Chinese organizations. Management and Organization Review, 5(1): 29–55.Google Scholar
Whitener, E. M., Brodt, S. E., Korsgaard, M. A., & Werner, J. M. 1998. Managers as initiators of trust: An exchange relationship framework for understanding managerial trustworthy behavior. Academy of Management Review, 23(3): 513–530.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zand, D. E. 1972. Trust and managerial problem solving. Administrative Science Quarterly, 17(2): 229–239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar