ABSTRACT
Although employee trust in leaders has garnered substantial empirical research, trust between coworkers has been virtually ignored. Extending the work of D. L. Ferrin, K. T. Dirks, and P. P. Shah (2006), the authors examined the role of group leaders, an influential third party in the workplace, on coworker trust formation. The correlates of the extent to which coworkers trust one another were examined in an investigation of 146 members of 32 work groups representing 4 diverse organizations. In this study, which utilized full network data, coworker trust was operationalized as in-degree centrality in the trust network. Controlling for relational demography and coworker helping behaviors, the authors found, as hypothesized, that coworkers tended to place more trust in fellow coworkers who were also trusted by the teams' formal leaders than in coworkers who were less trusted by leaders. In addition, consistent with the social information processing theory, support was found for the hypothesis that the relationship between leaders' trust and coworker trust is stronger when group performance is poor.
Subject(s)
Attitude , Interpersonal Relations , Leadership , Organizational Culture , Trust , Adult , Female , Humans , Male , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
Perceived trustworthiness is a critical antecedent of interpersonal trust, yet researchers have a limited understanding of how such perceptions are generated. The authors used 2 competing perspectives within the relational demography literature--similarity-attraction and relational norms--to empirically examine the effect of demographic differences. Whereas the similarity-attraction account suggests that subordinates will perceive their managers as more trustworthy when managers and staff are similar in demographic attributes, the relational norms account proposes that subordinates will perceive their managers as more trustworthy when their demographic differences follow normative expectations. Data collected from a field study of 178 manager-subordinate dyads in Hong Kong and Macau support the relational norms account in terms of education and organizational rank. The authors discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the study.
Subject(s)
Cross-Cultural Comparison , Interpersonal Relations , Organizational Culture , Personnel Management , Social Identification , Trust , Adult , Authoritarianism , China , Female , Hierarchy, Social , Hong Kong , Humans , Male , Social Conformity , Social Perception , Social Values , Socioeconomic Factors , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
Prior studies on alternative work schedules have focused primarily on the main effects of compressed work weeks and shift work on individual outcomes. This study explores the combined effects of alternative and preferred work schedules on nurses' satisfaction with their work schedules, perceived patient care quality, and interferences with their personal lives.
