Zanini Trust within Organizations of the New Economy

A Cross-Industrial Study
2007
ISBN: 978-3-8350-5410-3
Verlag: Deutscher Universitätsverlag
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 324 Seiten, eBook

Reihe: International Management Studies

Marco Tulio Zanini examines the effects of different industry-specific institutional framework constraints on the level of trust within business organizations, particularly the possible differences in old and new economy. Based on the results of a survey carried out in seven major companies from different sectors of the Brazilian economy, the author shows that trust is more likely to be found in relatively stable, hierarchical and bureaucratic organizations whereas there is comparatively little trust in new economy firms.

Dr. Marco Tulio Zanini promovierte bei Prof. Dr. Birgitta Wolff am Lehrstuhl für Betriebswirtschaftslehre - Internationales Management - der Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg. Er lehrt und forscht an der Fundação Dom Cabral, Brasilien.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Zanini, Marco Tulio

Weitere Mitwirkende

Wolf, Prof. Dr. Birgitta

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Foreword;8
2;Preface;10
3;Abstract;12
4;Table of Contents;14
5;List of Tables;20
6;List of Figures;22
7;List of Abbreviations;24
8;List of Variables;24
9;Glossary;26
10;1. Objectives and Structure of the Argument;29
10.1;1.1 Thesis Objectives;32
10.2;1.2 Relevance of the Study;36
10.3;1.3 Division of Chapters;37
11;2. Trust from the Economic Perspective;39
11.1;2.1 Trust and Monitoring;39
11.2;2.2 Cooperation and Trust;42
11.3;2.3 An Economic Definition of Trust;45
11.4;2.4 Properties of Trust;47
11.5;2.5 Trust within Organizations;54
11.6;2.6 Trust and Organizational Performance;73
11.7;2.7 Specific Functions of Trust;82
11.8;2.8 Conditions for Trust Development;94
11.9;2.9 Trust and Institutional Uncertainty;104
12;3. The New Economy (NE);117
12.1;3.1 Definition;117
12.2;3.2 A Knowledge-Based Economy;122
12.3;3.3 Institutional Innovations;132
12.4;3.4 New Economy and Old Economy;139
12.5;3.5 Effects of New Economy Characteristics on Organizations;149
12.6;3.6 The New Telecommunications Industry;159
12.7;3.7 Institutional Uncertainties;168
12.8;3.8 The Work Conditions in the New Economy;178
12.9;3.9 The Brazilian Telecommunications Case Study;183
13;4. Empirical Analysis: Hypotheses and Methods;189
13.1;4.1 Condensing Literature into a Basis for Empirical Research;189
13.2;4.2 Main Hypothesis;191
13.3;4.3 Secondary Hypotheses;192
13.4;4.4 The Organizations Used for the Study;197
13.5;4.5 Validation of the Companies’ Grouping;207
13.6;4.6 The Questionnaire Survey;224
14;5. Hypotheses Test and Analysis: Trust Thrives Where It is Least Needed;241
14.1;5.1 Validity Checking of the Variable Relationships;241
14.2;5.2 Hypotheses’ Analytical Framework;244
14.3;5.3 Main Hypothesis Test;249
14.4;5.4 Secondary Hypotheses Test;262
14.5;5.5 Main Theoretical Implications;271
15;6. Conclusions and Outlook;281
15.1;6.1 Contributions to Management Studies;284
15.2;6.2 Managerial Usage;286
16;List of References;289
17;APPENDIX ;315
17.1;Appendix 1: The Questionnaire;315
17.2;Appendix 2 - Comment Sheet Analysis;331
17.3;Appendix 3 – E-Mail model to the CEO;345
17.4;Appendix 4 – Company’ s Guideline / Research Agreement;347

Objectives and Structure of the Argument.- Trust from the Economic Perspective.- The New Economy (NE).- Empirical Analysis: Hypotheses and Methods.- Hypotheses Test and Analysis: Trust Thrives Where It is Least Needed.- Conclusions and Outlook.

Leseproben

1. Objectives and Structure of the Argument (p. 1)

Many economic transactions only take place because people trust each other. The cooperation which is generated through trust relationships between individuals creates interdependence. Investments will only pay off, if one or more agents stick to their promises. Trust is a social mechanism that has been approached by many economists, sociologists and organizational theorists. Academics and researchers have pointed to the importance of interpersonal trust in promoting consensual relationships and facilitating cooperation between individuals within organizations.

The increasing interest of organizational economics and management studies in trust issues is associated with the search for solutions of cooperation problems both within and between contemporary business organizations. Luhmann (2000) notes that unconditional trust which is generated in families and small-scale societies cannot be automatically transferred to complex societies based on the division of labor. According to Luhmann trust relationships are necessary for the reconstruction of special social institutions like friendship networks and patron- client relations. These relationships may guarantee an efficient coordination of economic activities with lower costs.

Given that business organizations consist basically of bureaucratic and hierarchical organizational structures, trust becomes an implicit mechanism for coordination and control of the routinely organizational tasks among individuals. Earlier on, Max Weber (1906/1946) had already noted the many advantages of the abstract regularities of bureaucracies in the execution of authority as efficient structures to coordinate and sustain production of collective actors, basically through the expansion of rationality. Bureaucracies would come to supplant personalized relationships which were highly susceptible to the exclusive dependence on individual influence as a way to govern social systems.

The existence of trust within bureaucratic relationships considerably expands the potential to produce cooperative relationships and managerial efficiency by increasing managerial control through an informal mechanism. Trust allows a reduction of formal hierarchical control and the expansion of the possibilities of producing results through bureaucracies, and therefore, a possible reduction in transaction costs. Intraorganizational trust may enhance organizational performance in a number of ways. The implicit role of trust in coordination and control of many organizational tasks has been observed, facilitating, for example, the knowledge transference process, improving organizational efficiency and productivity, and thus, decreasing transaction costs.

In the economic perspective, insights about trust have come mainly from Transaction Costs Economics (TCE) and Game Theory. In the reasoning of such Rational Choice approaches, trust is defined as "the voluntary risk investment, in advance, in a relationship under the abdication of explicit safeguard mechanisms of control against opportunistic behavior, in the expectation that the other party, despite the absence of such safeguards, will not behave opportunistically." , The economic analytical framework considers trust as a sub-class of risk situations related to human behavior.

It is assumed that trust works as a mechanism in economic systems whereby it increases the effectiveness of transactions, whether they take place in markets or within hierarchies. In line with some authors like Ouchi (1980/1998), Bradach and Eccles (1989/1998), and Adler (2001) we adopt the assumption that trust produced by social structures does not simply replace the market or hierarchies but operates as a third complementary governance structure with these two forms. Therefore, we assume that these three distinct mechanisms may be present in differing degrees in any real existing organization.

Über Autor(innen)

Dr. Marco Tulio Zanini promovierte bei Prof. Dr. Birgitta Wolff am Lehrstuhl für Betriebswirtschaftslehre – Internationales Management – der Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg. Er lehrt und forscht an der Fundação Dom Cabral, Brasilien.