A context-specific model of organizational trust

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 297-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carvell N. McLeary ◽  
Paula A. Cruise

Purpose – Employee trust research has been criticized for restricted theoretical conceptualization, limited contextual application and low replication of measures in organizational studies. The purpose of this paper is to expand the theoretical framework underpinning individual-level organizational trust to include cognitive and socio-affective components in order to examine trust determinants in a unique cultural setting. Design/methodology/approach – A national survey of 653 employees from six companies in Jamaica completed the perceived organizational support scale, perceived organizational justice scale, employee trust propensity scale and the organizational trust measure (Rawlins, 2008) after focus groups revealed the role of socio-cultural values in employee trust relationships. Findings – Controlling for common methods variance, confirmatory factor analyses revealed that a model of organizational trust that included a combination of cognitive and socio-affective determinants was more valid in the Jamaican culture than a model comprised of cognitive determinants alone. National social values of justice and respect were significant determinants of employee trust. Results also provide validity evidence for the previously non-replicated Rawlins trust scale, thereby, providing future researchers with a measure that can be readily replicated. Research limitations/implications – Employee trust levels influenced participation and consequently restricted the sample size and industry profile of the survey. Cross-cultural trust researchers are, therefore, encouraged to design studies with similar subject loss projections. Originality/value – Strict focus on the collectivistic/individualistic dimension of culture restricts researchers’ ability to measure trust effectively across a range of settings. The authors, therefore, propose the uncertainty avoidance dimension as a more valid paradigm to understand inter-cultural differences in trust orientations, particularly in restricted trust domains.

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florence Stinglhamber ◽  
Marc Ohana ◽  
Gaëtane Caesens ◽  
Maryline Meyer

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether a focal employee’s perception of organizational support (POS) is shaped by the social context or, more specifically, by his/her coworkers’ POS. The authors further aim to identify the conditions under which coworkers’ POS may have more influence or, on the contrary, less or even no influence. Design/methodology/approach Data were obtained from questionnaires distributed among a sample of 195 employees and among their supervisors. Findings Coworkers’ levels of POS are positively related to the focal employee’s POS with positive consequences in terms of job satisfaction and, finally, organizational citizenship behaviors. This influence of coworkers’ POS is strengthened when the focal employee experiences low voice in the workplace. Research limitations/implications Overall, this research contributes to organizational support theory by showing that POS may also develop based on a socially constructed process and not only on an individual-level psychological process. Practical implications Our findings have practical implications for HR policies employed by practitioners to socialize newcomers and to manage perceived support in a context of organizational change. Originality/value Building on a few recent studies suggesting that the social context may influence employees’ perceptions of organizational support, the present study is the first to show that the influence of the social context is more likely to occur under specific conditions, i.e. when employees experience low voice.


2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (8) ◽  
pp. 1677-1694 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgiana-Alexandra Badoiu ◽  
Mercedes Segarra-Ciprés ◽  
Ana B. Escrig-Tena

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a deeper insight into the organizational factors and personal motivations of intrapreneurs that may foster intrapreneurial behaviors of employees in a new technology-based firm (NTBF). Design/methodology/approach The paper takes a qualitative approach to explore organizational and individual antecedents of employees’ intrapreneurial behavior. A single case study was conducted on the basis of semi-structured interviews with the founders and top managers of the firm and with intrapreneurial employees. Findings Results show that intrapreneurial projects may arise in firms whose top managers support corporate entrepreneurship (CE) in a non-active manner. Intrapreneurial behaviors of employees can emerge despite the lack of time and limited resources available for undertaking projects. Moreover, work discretion and mutual confidence and the quality of the relationship between employees and top managers are the most valued factors for intrapreneurs. Practical implications Based on the intrapreneurial projects studied, this paper helps to contextualize intrapreneurs’ perception of organizational support and the personal motivations for leading projects within an NTBF. Originality/value Traditionally, the literature has mainly focused on the top-down implementation of entrepreneurial projects within large firms. This paper contributes to the understanding of the combination of firm- and individual-level factors that facilitate intrapreneurial behaviors of employees. It also illustrates the contextual conditions and the firms’ orientation on CE within an NTBF.


2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leida Chen ◽  
Xiaohan Zhang ◽  
Zhensheng Li

Purpose Drawing upon the theory of information culture from information science and prior research on Chinese information practices. The purpose of this paper is to posit that instead of over-relying on Hofstede’s national cultural values, the IS field should develop theories on national information culture to bridge the theoretical gaps found in explaining the differences in individuals’ IT perceptions and behaviors across cultures. Design/methodology/approach To achieve the objectives of this study, two quantitative studies were conducted. The first study is exploratory in nature and focuses on the development and calibration of an instrument to measure the Chinese information culture (CIC). The second study takes a confirmatory approach to investigate the impact of the CIC on IT perceptions of manager. Findings The study develops and validates an instrument for measuring the CIC that comprises information source and format preference, information ownership and analysis style, and centralized decision-making and information control. The CIC is found to influence IT perceptions of managers including perceived performance improvement resulted from IT use, attitude toward using work technologies and attitude on the value of IT in general. Originality/value This study is one of the first studies to theorize national information culture to understand IT perceptions at the individual level. The development of the CIC measure provides the much needed methodological support for contextualizing cross-cultural research.


2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda D. Hollebeek

Purpose While the consumer engagement (CE) concept is gaining traction in the literature, little remains known regarding the ways in which consumers displaying differing cultural traits engage with brands and their differences. The purpose of this paper is to explore CE with brands for consumers exhibiting differing cultural traits, and develop a set of research propositions for these individuals’ cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and social CE in brand interactions. These propositions, collectively, reflect consumers’ individual-level cultural CE styles – consumers’ motivationally driven disposition to think, feel, act, and relate to others in a certain manner characteristic of their specific individual cultural traits in brand interactions. Design/methodology/approach In this conceptual paper, literature is reviewed in the areas of CE and its conceptual relationship with Yoo et al.’s (2011) individual cultural values. Findings Key differences between individual-level cultural traits and consumers’ ensuing cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and social CE with brands are addressed in a set of research propositions based on Yoo et al.’s model of individual cultural values, from which the concept of individual-level cultural CE styles is developed. Research limitations/implications This research explores differences across individuals displaying differing cultural traits and their ensuing CE with brands, which remains underexplored to date. It also develops the concept of individual-level cultural CE styles, which reflect consumers’ characteristic cultural trait-based cognitions, emotions, behaviors, and social dynamics in engaging with particular brands. Practical implications The outlined managerial implications reveal that unique marketing approaches are expected to be effective for engaging consumers exhibiting different cultural traits with brands, based on their distinctive CE styles (e.g. focusing on personalized interactions/interactions that stress consumers’ similarity to and fit with salient others for individualist/collectivist consumers, respectively). Originality/value This paper makes two important theoretical contributions. First, by offering a conceptual analysis of consumers displaying differing cultural traits and their ensuing engagement with brands, it provides an early attempt to explore individual-level cultural CE-based differences. Second, it develops the concept of individual-level cultural CE styles, which is expected to hold important theoretical and managerial implications.


2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 437-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chung-wen Chen

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between gender and ethics, the interaction of job position and gender on ethics, and the three-way interacting effects of cultural values, job position, and gender on ethics. Design/methodology/approach – The individual-level data were from the 2005-2008 wave of World Values Survey data set and the cultural values were from the GLOBE study. The research contained 26,639 subjects from 30 nations and used HLM to conduct data analysis. Findings – Results showed that men are more likely than women to justify ethically suspect behaviors. In addition, under high in-group collectivism, the ethical difference between genders tends to decrease at high job positions and under high performance orientation, the ethical difference between genders tends to increase at high job positions. Research limitations/implications – This research depends on secondary data; it is therefore impossible for the author to control the data collection process, which could be an issue for discussion. In addition, because of limited available studies to refer to, the formation of the individual-level moderator, job position, might cause some attention. Practical implications – Corporate education and training in regards to ethical issues becomes even more vital, especially for men, since the statistical results showed that men are more likely than women to be deviant. Meanwhile, organizations can help themselves by recruiting a greater number of females, as this study shows that females are seen to make more ethically sound decisions than males. Furthermore, under the contexts of high in-group collectivism and low performance orientation, both genders in higher job positions tend to be more unethical than people in lower positions. Since people in higher positions have the right and the power to set the ethical tone for the organization (Clinard, 1983; Posner and Schmidt, 1992), it becomes particularly essential for firms to pay close attention to ethical issues in higher job positions. Originality/value – The study proved that the relationship between gender and ethics is more complicated than expected; job position, and cultural values can jointly influence the individual-level relationship. In addition, since human behavior is complicated, employing multilevel method to investigate humane behaviors in the field of management becomes necessary in the future.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of fun in the workplace and training climate on turnover in a European context. Design/methodology/approach Data is gathered from the responses of 902 hotels, restaurant and café workers from Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands to an online survey alongside organizational records of turnover. All employees work part-time and are primarily of college age. This is then analyzed using logistic regression. Findings The findings reported suggest that management support for fun and co-worker socializing at the office level are negatively and significantly related to turnover but not fun activities. In addition, individual level job support is significantly related to turnover but not manager support and organizational support. Practical implications Therefore, to promote retention managers should encourage the integration of employees with one another, promote fun on the job and create meaningful job responsibilities for young employees. Originality/value This paper has an original approach by examining the impact of fun in the workplace on turnover in a setting outside the USA and by examining this in relation to training climate.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Franziska Grieser ◽  
Burkhard Pedell

Purpose This study aims to explore the controllability of risk culture, identify and categorize risk culture controls used in firms and explore how industry and ownership structure affect the use of different risk culture controls. Design/methodology/approach This explorative study is based on 32 semi-structured interviews with 37 participants who are heads of risk management or top managers in German firms from different industries with different ownership structures. Findings Interviewees perceive risk culture to be largely controllable. The authors identify a wide spectrum of risk culture controls, ranging from leadership and motivational controls to risk competence controls; in each category, the authors find value-, symbol- and clan-based controls. Leadership controls were most extensively discussed by the interviewees. The use of risk culture controls varied based on industry and ownership structure. Research limitations/implications Due to the explorative character of the approach, the authors cannot claim representativeness for the results. The study is limited to one point in time and to a German sample. The findings imply that companies should select risk culture controls according to their own context and that implementation requires support by the top and middle management. Originality/value The authors respond to the call for more organizational studies on risk management that consider cultural paradigms (Arena et al., 2010; Mikes, 2011; Power, 2009). The study systematically identifies risk culture controls used in corporate practice and categorizes them. It provides tentative evidence of the relevance of context-specific factors for the use of risk culture controls.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven A. Brieger ◽  
Dirk De Clercq

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of how the interplay of individual-level resources and culture affects entrepreneurs’ propensity to adopt social value creation goals.Design/methodology/approachUsing a sample of 12,685 entrepreneurs in 35 countries from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, it investigates the main effects of individual-level resources – measured as financial, human and social capital – on social value creation goals, as well as the moderating effects of the cultural context in which the respective entrepreneur is embedded, on the relationship between individual-level resources and social value creation goals.FindingsDrawing on the resource-based perspective and Hofstede’s cultural values framework, the results offer empirical evidence that individual-level resources are relevant for predicting the extent to which entrepreneurs emphasise social goals for their business. Furthermore, culture influences the way entrepreneurs allocate their resources towards social value creation.Originality/valueThe study sheds new light on how entrepreneurs’ individual resources influence their willingness to create social value. Moreover, by focussing on the role of culture in the relationship between individual-level resources and social value creation goals, it contributes to social entrepreneurship literature, which has devoted little attention to the interplay of individual characteristics and culture.


2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaun Pichler ◽  
Enrica Ruggs ◽  
Raymond Trau

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop a cross-level conceptual model of organizational- and individual-level outcomes of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT)-supportive policies for all workers regardless of their sexual orientation. Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual paper based on an integration of propositions from perceived organizational support and organizational justice theories. Findings The model suggests that LGBT-supportive policies should be related to perceptions of organizational support directly and indirectly through diversity climate and perceptions of distributive, procedural, and interactional justice. Practical implications The model implies that employees should feel more supported and more fairly treated among firms with LGBT-supportive policies and practices, and that these feelings will be reciprocated. Originality/value This is the first paper to develop propositions about the outcomes of LGBT-supportive policies for all workers, and advances the literature by developing a multi-level model of outcomes of these policies.


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