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National context and individual employees’ trust of the out-group: The role of societal trust

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  • Miriam Muethel

    (WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, Vallendar, Germany)

  • Michael Harris Bond

    (Department of Applied Social Sciences, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong S.A.R., China)

Abstract

Out-group trust is a crucial driver of international business performance. However, employees from different countries vary in their levels of out-group trust. The aim of this study is therefore to capture national forces driving out-group trust. Based on Kramer's theorizing on the multiple bases of trust, we argue that, at the societal level, dispositional, categorization-based and rule-based trust influence employees’ out-group trust. In particular, we argue for dispositional and rule-based societal trust to increase, and for categorization-based societal trust to decrease employees’ out-group trust through different types of socialization. Using data on 25,622 employees from 42 countries, we find partial support for the coexistence of these bases of societal trust. Disentangling trust-forming and trust-impeding models, we find support for dispositional and rule-based societal trust as drivers of employees’ out-group trust, and for categorization-based societal trust as impeding employees’ out-group trust. In a combined model, however, rule-based trust is not significantly related to employees’ out-group trust. Considering the coexistence of trust and distrust, employees’ out-group trust develops through socialization effects conveying general trust in others (i.e., high dispositional trust) and the equality of social groups (i.e., low categorization-based trust).

Suggested Citation

  • Miriam Muethel & Michael Harris Bond, 2013. "National context and individual employees’ trust of the out-group: The role of societal trust," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 44(4), pages 312-333, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:jintbs:v:44:y:2013:i:4:p:312-333
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Srivastava, Saurabh & Singh, Shiwangi & Dhir, Sanjay, 2020. "Culture and International business research: A review and research agenda," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(4).
    2. Dowling, Michael & O’Gorman, Colm & Puncheva, Petya & Vanwalleghem, Dieter, 2019. "Trust and SME attitudes towards equity financing across Europe," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 54(6), pages 1-1.
    3. Saul Estrin & Julia Korosteleva & Tomasz Mickiewicz, 2022. "Schumpeterian Entry: Innovation, Exporting, and Growth Aspirations of Entrepreneurs," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 46(2), pages 269-296, March.
    4. Ricardo E. Buitrago R. & María Inés Barbosa Camargo & Favio Cala Vitery, 2021. "Emerging Economies’ Institutional Quality and International Competitiveness: A PLS-SEM Approach," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-18, April.
    5. Etayankara Muralidharan & Saurav Pathak, 2019. "Consequences of Cultural Leadership Styles for Social Entrepreneurship: A Theoretical Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-19, February.
    6. Seok-Woo Kwon & Jerayr Haleblian & John Hagedoorn, 2016. "In country we trust? National trust and the governance of international R&D alliances," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 47(7), pages 807-829, September.
    7. Michael Dowling & Colm O’gorman & Petya Puncheva-Michelotti & Dieter Vanwalleghem, 2019. "Trust and SME attitudes towards equity financing across Europe," Post-Print hal-02194484, HAL.
    8. Thomas Lindner & Jonas Puck & Alain Verbeke, 2020. "Misconceptions about multicollinearity in international business research: Identification, consequences, and remedies," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 51(3), pages 283-298, April.
    9. Lee, Hyun-Jung & Yoshikawa, Katsuhhiko & Harzing, Anne-Wil, 2022. "Cultures and institutions: dispositional and contextual explanations for country-of-origin effects in MNC 'ethnocentric' staffing practice," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 109011, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    10. Elkhan Richard Sadik-Zada & Wilhelm Loewenstein, 2020. "Drivers of CO 2 -Emissions in Fossil Fuel Abundant Settings: (Pooled) Mean Group and Nonparametric Panel Analyses," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-24, August.
    11. Kong, Dejun Tony, 2016. "A gene-dependent climatoeconomic model of generalized trust," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 226-236.
    12. Olivier Bertrand & Marie-Ann Betschinger & Caterina Moschieri, 2021. "Are firms with foreign CEOs better citizens? A study of the impact of CEO foreignness on corporate social performance," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(3), pages 525-543, April.

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