Trust as One of the Most Important Factors That Affects Collaborative Relationships: Critical Essay

In an increasingly networked world, the concept of collaboration has taken on increased precedence. However, over the years this topic has been studied widely inter-organizationally but few empirical studies have focused on this concept as it relates to collaboration among employees within an organization (Whitford, Lee, Yun, & Su Jung, 2010; Campbell, 2016). In examining collaborative relationships among people in general, the literature has showed that trust is one of the most important factors that affects collaborative relationships (Pallot, Bergman, Kuhnle, Pawar, & Riedel, 2010). The current study aims to examine the association of interpersonal trust with collaboration among co-workers and the mediating role of interpersonal trust in the relationship between trusting beliefs and collaboration among co-workers. This research is important as the nature of work has changed, such that collaboration is a key element to productivity in the workplace (Whitford et al., 2010; Child, 2001). Theorists, Tariq, Habib, Siddique, and Khan (2011) have expressed that ideally, organizations strive to be a unit where they can learn can transform themselves. However, in order for this to be achieved, the ability of employees to work collaboratively is a critical factor (Tariq et al., 2011).

Based on the dynamic nature of organizations today, the global economy has a high need for collaboration (Child, 2001; Holton, 2001). Over the years, the concept of collaboration has been of increasing importance in organizations, as companies are recognizing the value of collaboration since it has led to improved organizational performance (Whitford, Lee, Yun, & Su Jung, 2010) and helps companies to have a competitive advantage (Vangen & Huxham, 2003). As a result of the increasing recognition of collaboration and trust, managers are giving more attention to the concept of trust in order to achieve organizational effectiveness and maximize the contribution of employees (McCauley & Kuhnert,1992; Child, 2001). The impact of trust is becoming even more significant as according to O’Hara- Deveraux and Johansen (1991), in a technologically advanced world, trust has a larger impact than technology on the relationships between workers. It’s regarded as the glue within the organization and is the keystone in business relationships (Humphries &Wilding 2004; O’Hara- Deveraux & Johansen 1991). Trust is a necessity for collaborative relationships (Holton, 2001). The findings from this study will help inform interventions to increase interpersonal trust within organizations and ultimately drive intra-organizational collaboration.

This study argues that interpersonal trust will influence collaboration among coworkers. Interpersonal trust is influenced by perceptions of benevolence, competence, and reliability. Therefore, the perceptions of benevolence, competence, and reliability will have an effect on collaboration among coworkers through interpersonal trust.

The concept of collaboration is emerging, and organizations are prudently pursuing methods directed toward their employees effectively collaborating with each other (Cross, Borgatti, & Parker, 2002). The goals and outcomes of an organization cannot be achieved individually. As such, employees and work groups within an organization are often involved in collaborative behaviors (Whitford et al., 2010). Given the complex nature of organizations, collaboration among employees can be viewed as a valuable tool that can help to amalgamate different operational functions and processes within the organization (Cross et al., 2002; Chien, Wan, Chen, 2012). Particularly, in large organizations, collaboration has been found as a tool that improves internal processes and increases the efficiency of the organization (The Economic Intelligence Unit, 2008; Chien et al., 2012; Whitford et al., 2010). However, in order to achieve collaboration among employees within an organization, trust, which is an important constituent in all human relationships (Child, 2001) is an essential ingredient and forms the foundation of collaboration (Mayer, Davis, & Schoorman, 1995; Tariq et al., 2011). Mutual understanding between individuals proves to be a powerful factor in determining the success of collaboration (Child, 2001). The concept of trust among employees is of particular importance because it is considered a requirement for social behaviors (Gefen, 2000; Casimir, Lee, & Loon, 2012). Trust tasks play a key role in organizational performance and enable voluntary cooperation (Casimir et al., 2012; Lee, Stajkovic, & Cho, 2011). If a particular organization is seeking to increase collaboration among its employees, researchers have theorized that interpersonal trust will have a direct effect on the collaborative process (Tariq et al., 2011). Other empirical studies have supported this claim (Paul & McDaniel, 2004; Tschanen-Moran, 2001).

Collaboration

Collaboration is a collective process that aids groups in accomplishing goals more effectively as opposed to individuals carrying out actions individually. It fosters communication, shared knowledge, resources, and information (Whitford et al., 2010). The collaborative process creates a certain level of interdependency among individuals as they strive to arrive at decisions together (Gray& Wood, 1991). It involves the development of a model that entails a large degree of combined planning, coordinating, joint decision-making, combined implementation, and joint evaluation between individuals or organizations (Arduin, Goldstein, & Rosenthal-Sabroux, 2013; Vangen & Huxham, 2003; Hord, 1986). As a result of the collective nature of the collaborative process, each of the collaborative parties will be able to grow beyond their own abilities and learn from a wide knowledge base by building on the combined skills, competencies, and ideas generated within the group (Arduin et al., 2013). Importantly, the multifaceted dynamic nature of the collaborative process will produce challenges. As such, the collaborative process will require the commitment of the individual members to actively nurture the collaborative process (Vangen & Huxham, 2003).

Collaboration versus Cooperation

It is important to highlight the difference between collaboration and cooperation. Both are similar concepts, however, they produce different results. Cooperation presumes that two or more parties, each with separate and autonomous programs, have attained a mutual agreement to work together in order to make a particular task successful. However, their work does not advance beyond this level. Rochelle and Teasley (1995) describe cooperative work as the division of a task among individuals, where each person is responsible for a specific task. While collaboration on the other hand involves individuals committing to solve problems through coordinated efforts (Rochelle & Teasley, 1995). In other words, cooperation can be achieved by each person completing their assigned task, while collaboration has key features such as sharing, synchronicity, partnership, and interdependency which produce outcomes that involve integrating others’ perspectives (Mattessich & Monsey, 1992; Roschelle & Teasley,1995).

In contemporary organizations, there are continuing changes. As such, the workplace environment is characterized by a high level of interdependency between employees (Han & Harms, 2010; Chien et al., 2012). This requires teamwork which has become increasingly popular in organizations (Han &Harms, 2010; Holton, 2001). As a result of this increased reliance on each other, interpersonal trust is believed to facilitate the collaborative process (Mayer et al., 1995). The extent to which individuals will effectively collaborate and not merely cooperate can be influenced significantly by the degree of trust between individuals. A lack of trust has been found to be the most significant barrier to collaboration (Pallot, Bergmann, Kuhnle, Pawar & Riedel, 2010). In order for companies to gain a competitive advantage, it is critical for the organization to be able to establish as well as nurture trust among the collaborative participants (Vangen, Huxham, 2003).

Trust

The literature suggests that trust is a fundamental ingredient for collaboration in organizations (Costigan, Ilter & Berman 1998). Rousseau, Sitkin, Burt, and Camerer (1998) have defined trust as a psychological state comprising the intention to accept vulnerability based on the positive expectations of the intentions or behavior of another. Another popularly cited definition of trust by Mayer et al. (1995) defines trust as:

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

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Based on this definition (Mayer et al., 1995), trust among coworkers refers to the degree to which an employee shows a propensity to be vulnerable to the actions of fellow coworkers whose behavior and actions the person cannot control (Tan &Lim, 2009). Coworkers refer to members of an organization who hold approximately equal power levels within an organization and who interact daily at work (Tan &Lim, 2009). These popular definitions of trust from various researchers contain key aspects that are common. These common elements include a combination of trusting dispositions, cognition, vulnerability, willingness, intentions, and confidence in the actions of others (McKnight, Choudhury, & Kacmar, 2002; Usoro, Sharratt, Tsui, & Shekhar, 2007). Trust can exist both in interpersonal and impersonal forms within an organization (Atkinson & Butcher, 2003; Hassan & Semercioz, 2010). This paper will focus on the personal form and utilizes the definition of trust used by Mayer et al. (1995).

Interpersonal Trust. Interpersonal trust has been defined as the extent to which a person is confident in and willing to act based on observation of the other person’s behavior. (McAllister,1995). Scholars have described interpersonal trust as having both cognitive as well as affective components. The cognitive component is based on inferences of competence, and reliability while the affective component is based on an emotional investment (Costigan et al., 1998; McAllister, 1995). Mayer et al. (1995) highlight three widely used attributes that the trustor perceives the trustee to possess. These three are benevolence, integrity, and ability. Such attributes form the trusting beliefs which the trustor uses to form a perception and level of confidence in the trustee (McKnight et al., 2002; Mayer et al., 1995). These three attributes – benevolence, ability, and integrity will serve as a direct basis on which trust is formed. Researchers who have examined trust have theorized that the beliefs will affect the interactions and behavior of the person holding the beliefs (Dirks & Ferrin, 2001; Mayer et al., 1995). The literature has also shown that the attributes of benevolence, reliability, and competence are the most widely used trusting beliefs (McKnight et al., 2002). Other researchers have discussed additional trusting beliefs, however, this study will only focus on competence, reliability, and benevolence.

These three trusting beliefs encapsulate both the cognitive and affective components of interpersonal trust. Competence and reliability are cognitive assessments of the trustee, while benevolence has a large affective component. Benevolence involves emotional bonds between individuals which entails the perception that one has about others being concerned for their welfare (Mayer et al., 1995; McAllister, 1995). Benevolence refers to “the extent to which a trustee is believed to want to do good to the trustor, aside from an egocentric motive” (Mayer et al., 1995, p. 718). It signifies a personal orientation of the trustee to the trustor, (Davis, Schoorman, Mayer, & Tan, 2000). Competence-based trust has been titled “ability” by Mayer et.al (1995), however, the two concepts as defined are viewed as synonymous (Usoro et al., 2007; Hassan & Semercioz, 2010; McKnight, Cummings, & Chervany, 1998). Jarvenpaa, Knoll, and Leidner (1998) state that competence or ability-based trust exists when an individual believes that another party has knowledge and expertise in relation to a specific domain. Reliability-based trust has been titled “integrity” (Mayer et al, 1995). However, based on the definition, these two concepts are also viewed as synonymous (Usoro et al., 2007). Mayer et al. (1995) define integrity as “the trustor’s perception that the trustee adheres to a set of principles that the trustor finds acceptable.” (p. 719). It focuses on the issues of consistency of the individual’s actions with his/her words, credible views about the trustee from other parties, as well as a belief related to the trustee’s sense of fairness (Hassan & Semercioz, 2010). In essence, interpersonal trust among coworkers is based on the extent to which coworkers are more likely to trust each other given their individual beliefs of benevolence, reliability, and competence of other employees. The trusting beliefs that significantly affect as well as form the basis of interpersonal trust are each believed to have an effect on collaboration among employees within the organization.

The diagram below indicates that interpersonal trust among coworkers will be determined by the employees’ perception of the three different trusting beliefs (benevolence, competence, and reliability). Research by Tan and Tan (2000), Butler and Cantrell (1984), and Krot and Lewicka (2012) found that these trusting beliefs were significantly related to trust. Trust symbolizes a relevant aspect of the organizational climate. It forms the core of collaboration (Tariq et al., 2011). There is a greater predisposition for employees to collaborate when trust characterizes their relationship (Costigan et.al., 1998; Mayer et al., 1995) as it creates an environment that is more conducive to collaboration (Tariq et al., 2011). The collaborative environment is one that consists of a trusting relationship as it gives rise to shared decision-making, creative ideas, problem-solving, increased communication, and interdependency among employees (Tariq et al., 2011). Despite the scant literature on the relationship between interpersonal trust and collaboration (Tschannen-Moran, 2001), researchers (Tschannen-Moran, 2001; Paul & McDaniel, 2004) have found several dimensions of interpersonal trust to have a positive effect on collaboration. Tschannen-Moran (2001) found that interpersonal trust had a positive effect on different collaborating parties within an elementary school as well as helped to improve their organization’s goals. Paul and McDaniel (2004) also supported the positive effect of interpersonal trust on the collaborative relationship among healthcare professionals. Interpersonal trust in their study improved the performance, aided in complexity reduction, and improved the efficiency of healthcare professionals as they worked in a high-risk environment with patients.

Without an established level of perception of trust, there will be a lack of authenticity in the relationships (Tschanen- Moran 2001). Employees will not be willing to invest their time and energy or share responsibility as these activities require trust (Child, 2001). Similarly, employees will not be willing to cultivate their efforts in achieving the organization’s goals, and shared decision-making, or participate in the level of interdependency with each other (Mishra &Morrissey, 1990). Researchers have suggested that trust enables cooperative behavior, reduces interpersonal conflict, and promotes knowledge sharing (Song, Kim, & Kolb, 2009), all of which are critical elements of collaboration (Martin-Rodriguez, Beaulieu, D’Amor & Ferrada-Videla, 2005; Tariq et al., 2011).

Association of Trusting Beliefs with Interpersonal Trust and Collaboration

The trusting beliefs, which are the perceptions of the attributes that an individual may possess, form the basis of interpersonal trust (Mayer et al., 1995). This means that the belief that an employee may have of another coworker will influence the extent he/she may be willing to be vulnerable to the other party (Mayer et al., 1995). Workers within a company will be witness to other employees’ benevolence, reliability, and competence which will affect their behavior and actions toward the collaborative relationship (Tschanen- Moran, 2001). Notably, an employee may trust an individual based on the perception of a trusting belief X but not necessarily based on trusting belief Y (Mayer & Davis, 1999; Tan & Lim, 2009). For example, one may trust another person based on their perception of benevolence but not necessarily trust the same person in terms of their perception of competence. Each trusting belief will have a different effect on the trusting relationship. Employees will garner a certain reputation over time through interactions with each other. Whether a cognitive or an affective assessment is done about each other’s trusting beliefs it will influence how each individual approaches the other collaborative party (Tschanen-Moran, 2001). Previous research did not examine the relationship between trusting beliefs and collaboration directly, nor the mediating role that interpersonal trust played between them. However, research by Aurifeille and Medlin (2009) found that trust formed between companies based on benevolence had a significant impact on inter-firm relationships. In their study, it was found that the management of a company perceived another company to have their best interest in mind affected the perception of the relationship performance. Managers were more willing to take a risk and engage in business with a partner company based on the perception of benevolence that was formed about the other firm through their previous relationships. As such, in the current study, it was hypothesized that interpersonal trust will mediate the relationship between benevolence and collaboration as well as possibly other trusting beliefs (reliability and competence). In the current context, the relationships were between coworkers as opposed to between firms. However, benevolence-based trust was a key ingredient as it related to relationship performance, it directly influences one’s disposition to trust and determines if the management would participate in a collaborative relationship.

Additionally, the trusting beliefs of benevolence, integrity and ability are also of salience in the relationship between coworkers (Tan, &Lim, 2009; Krot & Lewicka, 2012). These relationships are of salience as they form the informal networks within an organization (Tan & Lim, 2009) which are equally as important as the formal network of relationships that are formed between them. These beliefs will affect how employees relate to each other and the level of interdependency that is practiced (Mayer et al., 1995). An employee may trust his/her coworker but not trust his/her supervisor. Krot and Lewicka’s (2012) study on employees within a Polish company found that integrity is the most important trusting belief between coworkers while Tan and Lim (2009) found benevolence to be the most significant affecting the trusting relationship between coworkers from a Singapore insurance company.

The trusting belief that employees have about their coworkers within the organization, as well as top management, has an effect on their behavior. For example, Stevenson and Gilly, (1991) reported that there is a tendency for employees to communicate work-related ideas to their peers rather than to the formal people in authority who are assigned to that role. The findings from Stevenson and Gilly (1991) are substantiated by Whitford et al. (2010) who found that collaboration among coworkers had the largest effect on intra-organizational collaboration as opposed to collaboration between employees and their supervisors. As such, interpersonal trust among coworkers in particular is proposed to be of salience in the collaborative relationship. The attitudes and behaviors of employees are influenced by those they regard as similar to them (Tan & Lim, 2009). When trust exists among peers there is a proclivity towards working in teams (Kiffin-Petersenn & Cordery, 2003), which increases their level of commitment, and produces higher organizational support (Farris, Senner, & Butterfield, 1973). Employees’ higher levels of commitment propel them to be more productive. There is a certain level of emotional attachment which motivates employees to make meaningful contributions (Hanaysha, 2016). Such an environment has been theorized to stem collaboration when combined with increased levels of commitment, increased communication, knowledge sharing, and participation of employees in a harmonious fashion (Tariq et al., 2011; Luyet & Tamm, 2004; Campbell, 2016). Trust developed, based on the perceived attributes of an individual has also been positively correlated to other organizational outcomes such as knowledge-sharing behaviors. Several researchers have discussed trust as an important factor that is critical to collaboration (Whitford et al, 2010; Aram, Morgan, & Esbeck, 1971; Child, 2001).

In summary, collaboration among employees will occur at several levels within an organization. Collaboration among coworkers entails certain functions such as working towards common goals, knowledge sharing and sharing of resources (Whitford et al., 2010), support, and integration (Aram et al., 1971). Researchers have theorized that the perception that an employee has of other members of the organization based on their belief of competence, reliability, and benevolence, may affect other organizational outcomes that scholars have marked as pertinent factors that will affect collaboration. Studies (Paul & McDaniel, 2004; Tschannen-Moran, 2001) have supported that interpersonal trust has a positive effect on collaboration. The relationships that exist within an organization will determine the subsistence of the organization (Whitford, et al., 2010).