Trickle-down effect of organizational trust on co-worker trust: The moderating role of cultural dissimilarity and relationship length

Ann Marie Ingrid Nienaber, Maximilian Holtgrave, Michal Biron, Viktoria Maria Baumeister, Dilek Zamantili Nayir, Gerhard Schewe

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated trends of globalization and digitalization, making geographically dispersed teams a common practice in firms. Despite benefits derived from the members' diversity, such teams are also prone to trust deficiency. Advancing prior research, this study focuses on links between multiple referents of trust. We draw on halo and priming effects to suggest that employees' trust toward their organization could trickle-down to trust in their co-workers. Moreover, we highlight the moderating role of cultural dissimilarity and relationship length. Analyzing 317 relationships between Turkish employees and their co-workers of Turkish and German cultural background, we present evidence for a trickle-down effect of organizational trust on trust in co-workers. We also find that the trickle-down effect of trust is stronger when cultural dissimilarity is high than when it is low, suggesting that trust in the organizations may outweigh cultural barriers that could hamper trust between co-workers.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)97-112
Number of pages16
JournalEuropean Management Review
Volume20
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 9 May 2022

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. European Management Review published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Academy of Management (EURAM).

Keywords

  • cultural dissimilarity
  • relationship length
  • trickle-down effect
  • trust in co-workers
  • trust in organizations

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Business and International Management
  • Strategy and Management

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