Skip to main content
Department of Psychiatry Department of Psychiatry
  1. HOME
  2. Research
  3. Programs, Centers & Labs
  4. IN STEP Center
  5. Tools and Resources
  6. Definitions of Team Constructs
  7. Emergent States
  8. Affective Emergent States
  9. Trust

Trust

Definition

"The willingness of a party to be vulnerable to the actions of another party based on the expectation that the other party will perform a particular action important to the trustor, irrespective of the ability to monitor or control the other party." (Meyer et al., 1995, p. 712)

Key References 

  • Costa, A. C. (2003). Work team trust and effectiveness. Personnel Review, 32(5), 605–622. https://doi.org/10.1108/00483480310488360 
    • Proposed a model of trust as a multidimensional construct with multiple outcomes (performance, satisfaction and organizational commitment).
  • Colquitt, J. A., Scott, B. A., & LePine, J. A. (2007). Trust, trustworthiness, and trust propensity: A meta-analytic test of their unique relationships with risk taking and job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(4), 909–927. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.92.4.909 
    • Meta analysis, compared potential antecedents of trust and determined a partial mediation of trust on the relationship between trustworthiness and trust propensity.
  • Barczak, G., Lassk, F. G., & Mulki, J. P. (2010). Antecedents of team creativity: An examination of team emotional intelligence, team trust and collaborative culture. Creativity and Innovation Management, 19(4), 332–345. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8691.2010.00574.x 
    • Cognitive trust positively moderates the relationship between collaborative culture and team creativity but affective trust does not, both forms of trust were related to emotional intelligence dimensions.

Key Measurements

  • McAllister, D. J., (1995). Affect- and Cognition-Based trust as foundations for interpersonal cooperation in organizations. Academy of Management Journal, 38(1), 24–59. https://doi.org/10.5465/256727
    • McAllister, 1995: Interpersonal Trust Scale, measures cognitive and affective trust, 11 items

Recent Articles 

  • Alsharo, M., Gregg, D., & Ramirez, R., (2017). Virtual Team Effectiveness: The role of knowledge sharing and trust. Information & Management, 54(4), 479–490. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2016.10.005 
    • Adresses the social effect of knowledge sharing on virtual teams and proposes a model where knowledge sharing promotes trust, collabortion, and effectiveness among team members.
  • Lee, P., Gillespie, N., Mann, L., & Wearing, A., (2010). Leadership and trust: Their effect on knowledge sharing and team performance. Management Learning, 41(4), 473–491. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350507610362036 
    • Examines the relationship between trust in the team and team leader and knowledge sharing and performance. Found that trust promotes knowledge sharing and team performance among teams.
  • Pinjani, P., & Palvia, P., (2013). Trust and knowledge sharing in diverse global virtual teams. Information & Management, 50(4), 144–153. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2012.10.002 
    • Found that trust mediates the relationship between diversity levels and team effectiveness in global virtual teams.