Handbook of Principles of Organizational Behavior - Soltanieh ...

21
Foster Trust through Ability,
Benevolence, and Integrity
JASON A. COLQUITT AND SABRINA C. SALAM *
Concerns about trust are woven into many aspects of working life. Encounters with new
co - workers, leaders, or followers are dominated by questions about trust, setting the tone
for future interactions. As relationships develop, trust serves as a guide that paces the
openness, investment, and spontaneity of the interactions between individuals at work.
As individuals navigate their way through hierarchical relationships, trust infl uences
decisions about whether to cooperate with directives at the risk of exploitation. Finally,
trust takes on a renewed importance in times of organizational crisis, as it can help maintain
a sense of confi dence and optimism during tough times.
The academic literature defines trust as the willingness of a trustor to be vulnerable
to the actions of a trustee based on positive expectations about the trustee ’s characteristics,
behaviors, and intentions (Mayer, Davis, and Schoorman, 1995 ). When employees trust
their supervisors, they would be prepared to grant them influence over important issues
by, for example, disclosing sensitive or personal information (Mayer and Davis, 1999 ;
Schoorman, Mayer, and Davis, 2007 ). Note that trust in this example is not the actual
disclosing of the information; it is the psychological state that makes the employee willing
to do it. The disclosing of information represents risk taking, which can be viewed as one
behavioral expression of trust (Mayer et al., 1995 ).
The Oxford English Dictionary defines trust as confidence in, or reliance on, some quality
or attribute of a person. A number of qualities or attributes are capable of inspiring
trust in leaders. For example, research has examined attributes like competence, loyalty,
concern, consistency, reliability, honesty, openness, and value congruence (Butler, 1991 ;
Butler and Cantrell, 1984; Mayer et al., 1995 ). Research examines these attributes under
the heading of “ trustworthiness, ” grouping them into three distinct categories or concepts.
* Editor ’s note: I regret to announce that Sabrina Salam died tragically in a car accident
on April 4, 2005.