Interpersonal trust and business relationships

Thesis

This thesis investigated factors predicting trust in business executives' relationships with their strong and weak ties, and the structure of business trust values among executives in the UK and Hong Kong. Relationships between individualism -collectivism and business trust values were also addressed. The research draws on Zucker's (1986) definition and production of trust, Butler's (1983) reciprocity of trust, Blau's (1964) social exchange theory, similarity-attraction theory, Granovetter's (1973) tie strength, and literature concerning friendship, individualism-collectivism and trust in order to develop hypotheses in three studies.

The first study examined the notion of trust through measures of expectations of trusting behaviours that predicted dyadic trust between UK business executives and their strong and weak ties. Expectations of honesty, reliability and discretion were found to be the fundamental expectations that influenced trust in both types of ties. Expectation of reciprocity of trusting behaviours between actors was also investigated but no evidence was found for their influence.

The second study explored antecedents of trust between UK business executives and their strongest business ties. Findings differed depending on whether strongest business ties involved friendship. Common ground (e.g. similar education, interests and work place) had an indirect effect on trust in strongest business friendship ties but not in strongest business ties. These findings suggest that dyads in strongest business relationships shared less in common than relationships that contained friendship.

The third study developed a multidimensional scale of business trust values and explored its relationships with individualism-collectivism in the UK and HK. Trust values were found to be discretionary in both groups. Intolerance of questionable business practices was found in the UK group.

The research was multi-method as it combined qualitative semi-structured interviews with quantitative surveys. The thesis concludes by discussing cultural implications for the formation of trust among business people in the UK and China, and future research directions.

Authors: Mo, Y; Mo, Yuet-Ha

• Publication date: 2004
• DOI: 10.5287/ora-qordkanyr
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: Business relations
• Subjects: Businesspeople - Psychology; Interpersonal relations; Trust; Business networks