IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ororsc/v14y2003i1p18-31.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Use of Rewards to Increase and Decrease Trust: Mediating Processes and Differential Effects

Author

Listed:
  • Donald L. Ferrin

    (School of Management, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York 14260)

  • Kurt T. Dirks

    (John M. Olin School of Business, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130)

Abstract

We test hypotheses asserting that reward structures—an omnipresent element of the work context—have a strong influence on interpersonal trust, and we explore the cognitive and behavioral routes through which the effects may occur. Specifically, we use attribution theory to identify several core processes including social perception (causal schemas), self-perception, and attributional biases (correspondence bias, suspicion effects, and preexisting expectations) that may explain trust development. A 3 (cooperative/competitive/mixed rewards) X 2 (high/low initial trust) experimental design in a problem-solving task was used to examine the hypotheses. The results suggest that reward structures have a strong influence on trust, and that the effect is mediated by causal schemas, suspicion effects, and self-perception. We also found some support for the prediction that the impact of mixed reward structures on trust is biased by individuals' preexisting expectations about their partner's trustworthiness. The theory and results suggest that attribution theory provides a useful framework for understanding the complex, diverse, and multiple routes through which trust may develop.

Suggested Citation

  • Donald L. Ferrin & Kurt T. Dirks, 2003. "The Use of Rewards to Increase and Decrease Trust: Mediating Processes and Differential Effects," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 14(1), pages 18-31, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:14:y:2003:i:1:p:18-31
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.14.1.18.12809
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.14.1.18.12809
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/orsc.14.1.18.12809?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bottger, Preston C. & Yetton, Philip W., 1988. "An integration of process and decision scheme explanations of group problem solving performance," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 234-249, October.
    2. Kurt T. Dirks & Donald L. Ferrin, 2001. "The Role of Trust in Organizational Settings," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 12(4), pages 450-467, August.
    3. Thomas F. Pettigrew, 1958. "Personality and sociocultural factors in intergroup attitudes: a cross-national comparison," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 2(1), pages 29-42, March.
    4. Alper, Steve & Tjosvold, Dean & Law, Kenneth S., 1998. "Interdependence and Controversy in Group Decision Making: Antecedents to Effective Self-Managing Teams," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 33-52, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shalini Srivastava & Poornima Madan, 2016. "Understanding the Roles of Organizational Identification, Trust and Corporate Ethical Values in Employee Engagement–Organizational Citizenship Behaviour Relationship: A Study on Indian Managers," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 41(4), pages 314-330, November.
    2. S. Hansen & Bradley Alge & Michael Brown & Christine Jackson & Benjamin Dunford, 2013. "Ethical Leadership: Assessing the Value of a Multifoci Social Exchange Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 115(3), pages 435-449, July.
    3. Judit Oláh & Attila Bai & György Karmazin & Péter Balogh & József Popp, 2017. "The Role Played by Trust and Its Effect on the Competiveness of Logistics Service Providers in Hungary," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-22, December.
    4. Giles Hirst & Fred Walumbwa & Samuel Aryee & Ivan Butarbutar & Chin Jeffery Hui Chen, 2016. "A Multi-level Investigation of Authentic Leadership as an Antecedent of Helping Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 139(3), pages 485-499, December.
    5. Justyna Łapińska & Iwona Escher & Joanna Górka & Agata Sudolska & Paweł Brzustewicz, 2021. "Employees’ Trust in Artificial Intelligence in Companies: The Case of Energy and Chemical Industries in Poland," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-20, April.
    6. Hutzschenreuter, Thomas & Horstkotte, Julian, 2013. "Performance effects of international expansion processes: The moderating role of top management team experiences," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 259-277.
    7. Daniel Kangogo & Domenico Dentoni & Jos Bijman, 2020. "Determinants of Farm Resilience to Climate Change: The Role of Farmer Entrepreneurship and Value Chain Collaborations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-15, January.
    8. Kähkönen, T. & Blomqvist, K. & Gillespie, N. & Vanhala, M., 2021. "Employee trust repair: A systematic review of 20 years of empirical research and future research directions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 98-109.
    9. Lalit Kumar Yadav & Pawan Gupta, 2017. "Procedural Justice, Job Satisfaction and Organizational Citizenship Behaviour: Mediating Role of Organizational Trust—Indian Tourism Industry Study," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 42(3), pages 275-292, August.
    10. Vincenzo Perrone, 2013. "Sympathy for the devil? Reflections on the perils of institutionalising trust research," Journal of Trust Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(2), pages 155-171, October.
    11. Caloghirou, Yannis & Giotopoulos, Ioannis & Kontolaimou, Alexandra & Korra, Efthymia & Tsakanikas, Aggelos, 2021. "Industry-university knowledge flows and product innovation: How do knowledge stocks and crisis matter?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(3).
    12. Mu-Jung Huang & Kuo-Chih Cheng & Shao-Hsi Chung & Huo-Ming Wang & Kuo-Hua Wang, 2021. "Budget Participation Capacity Configuration (BPCC), Budgeting Participation Requirement and Product Innovation Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-12, May.
    13. repec:clg:wpaper:2008-22 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Dean Tjosvold & Nancy Yifeng Chen & Xu Huang & Da Xu, 2014. "Developing Cooperative Teams to Support Individual Performance and Well-Being in a Call Center in China," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 325-348, March.
    15. Byung-Jik Kim, 2019. "Unstable Jobs Cannot Cultivate Good Organizational Citizens: The Sequential Mediating Role of Organizational Trust and Identification," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-14, March.
    16. Harvey, Michael & Reiche, B. Sebastian & Moeller, Miriam, 2011. "Developing effective global relationships through staffing with inpatriate managers: The role of interpersonal trust," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 150-161, June.
    17. Booth, Jonathan E. & Shantz, Amanda & Glomb, Theresa M. & Duffy, Michelle K. & Stillwell, Ellie, 2020. "Bad bosses and self-verification: the moderating role of core self-evaluations with trust in workplace management," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 100839, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    18. Hsing-Yuan Liu & Su-Ching Sung & Chun-Yen Chao & Nai-Hung Chen & Hsiu-Fang Chen & Sheau-Ming Wu, 2022. "Development and Psychometric Testing of a Taiwanese Team Interactions and Team Creativity Instrument (TITC-T) for Nursing Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-11, June.
    19. Arif ÇETİN & Salih GÜNEY, 2019. "İBB Spor İstanbul’da Çalışanların Örgütsel Adalet ve Örgütsel Güven Algılarının Örgütsel Bağlılık Davranışı Üzerindeki Etkisi ve Buna Yönelik Bir Uygulama," Istanbul Management Journal, Istanbul University Business School, vol. 0(87), pages 93-109, June.
    20. Jalan, Akanksha & Matkovskyy, Roman & Urquhart, Andrew & Yarovaya, Larisa, 2023. "The role of interpersonal trust in cryptocurrency adoption," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    21. Tilko Swalve, 2022. "Does Group Familiarity Improve Deliberations in Judicial Teams? Evidence from the German Federal Court of Justice," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(1), pages 223-249, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:14:y:2003:i:1:p:18-31. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.