A cross-cultural study of coworker trust

• Published in: International journal of commerce and management Vol. 21; no. 2; pp. 103 - 121
• Main Authors: Costigan, Robert D, Insinga, Richard C, Jason Berman, J, Kranas, Grazyna, Kureshov, Vladimir A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bingley Emerald Group Publishing Limited 22.06.2011; Emerald Group Publishing, Ltd
• Subjects: Analysis; Behavior; Business planning; Business plans; Cognition & reasoning; Collectivism; Consumer behavior; Creativity; Cross cultural studies; Employees; High technology industry; Hypotheses; International; Investigations; Management science; Peers; Statistics; Studies; Surveys; Trust; Trusts; Work environment; Workers; Poland; Russia; Power distance; Trust; Enterprising; Coworker; Culture; Collectivism; Cross cultural studies
• ISSN: 1056-9219; 2059-6014; 1758-8529; 2059-6022
• DOI: 10.1108/10569211111144328

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between an employee's trust of coworkers and that employee's enterprising behavior. The extent to which cultural dimensions, in-group collectivism and power distance, moderate the trust-behavior relationship is considered.Design methodology approach - A rigorous research methodology was employed to minimize potential problems with common method variance. Trust ratings were provided by 135 US, 203 Turkish, 100 Polish, and 86 Russian focal employees. Their 524 coworkers provided enterprising behavior ratings for these focal employees.Findings - The results show that both cognitive- and affect-based trusts of coworkers is associated with enterprising behavior. The findings also indicate that the affect-based trust enterprising behavior relationship is stronger in higher power distance cultures than in lower power distance cultures. In-group collectivism, however, does not moderate the trust enterprising behavior relationships.Originality value - Trust is thought to nurture enterprising behavior in the workplace. This study looks at the relationship between trust of coworkers and enterprising behavior, an under investigated but key behavior in the modern organization. The moderating role of power distance implies that organizational interventions promoting affect-based trust in coworker relationships may have bigger payoffs as far as behavior change in the high-power distance context than in the low.