IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ororsc/v9y1998i2p141-159.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does Trust Matter? Exploring the Effects of Interorganizational and Interpersonal Trust on Performance

Author

Listed:
  • Akbar Zaheer

    (Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, 321 19th Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455)

  • Bill McEvily

    (Graduate School of Industrial Administration, Carnegie Mellon University, Schenley Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213-3890)

  • Vincenzo Perrone

    (Universita' degli Studi di Cassino and SDA Bocconi University, Graduate School of Management, Italy)

Abstract

A conceptual challenge in exploring the role of trust in interorganizational exchange is translating an inherently individual-level concept—trust—to the organizational-level outcome of performance. We define interpersonal and interorganizational trust as distinct constructs and draw on theories of interorganizational relations to derive a model of exchange performance. Specifically, we investigate the role of trust in interfirm exchange at two levels of analysis and assess its effects on negotiation costs, conflict, and ultimately performance. Propositions were tested with data from a sample of 107 buyer-supplier interfirm relationships in the electrical equipment manufacturing industry using a structural equation model. The results indicate that interpersonal and interorganizational trust are related but distinct constructs, and play different roles in affecting negotiation processes and exchange performance. Further, the hypotheses linking trust to performance receive some support, although the precise nature of the link is somewhat different than initially proposed. Overall, the results show that trust in interorganizational exchange relations clearly matters.

Suggested Citation

  • Akbar Zaheer & Bill McEvily & Vincenzo Perrone, 1998. "Does Trust Matter? Exploring the Effects of Interorganizational and Interpersonal Trust on Performance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 9(2), pages 141-159, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:9:y:1998:i:2:p:141-159
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.9.2.141
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.9.2.141
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/orsc.9.2.141?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. Gordon Walker, 1994. "Asset Choice and Supplier Performance in Two Organizations–US and Japanese," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 5(4), pages 583-593, November.
    2. H. B. Malmgren, 1961. "Information, Expectations and the Theory of the Firm," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 75(3), pages 399-421.
    3. Heide, Jan B. & Stump, Rodney L., 1995. "Performance implications of buyer-supplier relationships in industrial markets : A transaction cost explanation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 57-66, January.
    4. Currall, Steven C. & Judge, Timothy A., 1995. "Measuring Trust between Organizational Boundary Role Persons," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 151-170, November.
    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. Delbufalo, Emanuela, 2015. "Subjective trust and perceived risk influences on exchange performance in supplier–manufacturer relationships," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 84-101.
    2. Emanuela Delbufalo, 2012. "Subjective trust, perceived risk and exchange performance in buyer-supplier relationships," Working Papers - Economics wp2012_10.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
    3. Roman Fiala & Martin Prokop & Iva Živělová, 2012. "The relationship between inter-organizational trust and performance," Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, Mendel University Press, vol. 60(4), pages 89-98.
    4. Foss Kirsten & Foss Nicolai & Klein Peter G. & Klein Sandra K., 2002. "Heterogeneous Capital, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Organization," Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-20, March.
    5. Schneider, Christian O. & Bremen, Philipp & Schönsleben, Paul & Alard, Robert, 2013. "Transaction cost economics in global sourcing: Assessing regional differences and implications for performance," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(1), pages 243-254.
    6. M. Meuleman & S. Manigart & A. Lockett & M. Wright, 2006. "Transaction costs, behavioral uncertainty and the formation of interfirm cooperations: Syndication in the UK private equity market," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 06/359, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    7. Ichiishi, Tatsuro, 1985. "Management versus ownership, II," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 115-138, March.
    8. Bill McEvily, 2011. "Reorganizing the Boundaries of Trust: From Discrete Alternatives to Hybrid Forms," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(5), pages 1266-1276, October.
    9. Iavor Marangozov, 2005. "From Practice to Theory of the International Joint Ventures," Economic Studies journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 2, pages 44-77.
    10. Lutz Kaufmann & Jens Esslinger & Craig R. Carter, 2018. "Toward Relationship Resilience: Managing Buyer‐Induced Breaches of Psychological Contracts During Joint Buyer–Supplier Projects," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 54(4), pages 62-85, October.
    11. Kim, Dong W. & Trimi, Silvana & Hong, Soon G. & Lim, Seongbae, 2020. "Effects of co-creation on organizational performance of small and medium manufacturers," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 574-584.
    12. Li, Jizhong & Jiang, Fuming & Shen, Jie, 2016. "Institutional distance and the quality of the headquarters–subsidiary relationship: The moderating role of the institutionalization of headquarters’ practices in subsidiaries," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 589-603.
    13. Kim, Yusoon & Choi, Thomas Y., 2021. "Supplier relationship strategies and outcome dualities: An empirical study of embeddedness perspective," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    14. Suresh Cuganesan, 2006. "The role of functional specialists in shaping controls within supply networks," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 19(4), pages 465-492, July.
    15. Jiang, Marshall S. & Chu, Rongwei & Pan, Yigang, 2011. "Anticipated duration of international joint ventures: A transaction cost perspective," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 175-183, June.
    16. Dekkers, Rob & de Boer, Ronald & Gelsomino, Luca Mattia & de Goeij, Christiaan & Steeman, Michiel & Zhou, Qijun & Sinclair, Scott & Souter, Victoria, 2020. "Evaluating theoretical conceptualisations for supply chain and finance integration: A Scottish focus group," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    17. Simshauser, P., 2020. "Merchant utilities and boundaries of the firm: vertical integration in energy-only markets," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2039, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    18. Garg, Shresth & Ghosh, Pulak & Tan, Brandon Joel, 2023. "Within firm supply chains: Evidence from India," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    19. Paolo Coccorese & Giovanni Ferri & Punziana Lacitignola & Juan Lopez, 2016. "Market structure, outer versus inner competition: the case of Italy’s credit coop banks," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 63(3), pages 259-279, September.
    20. Khorana, Sangeeta & Escaith, Hubert & Ali, Salamat & Kumari, Sushma & Do, Quynh, 2022. "The changing contours of global value chains post-COVID: Evidence from the Commonwealth," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 75-86.

    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:9:y:1998:i:2:p:141-159. 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.