Theoretical reconceptualisation of the dynamics of trust within and between organisations

Abstract

Today’s business and commercial undertaking have taken on a dimension that defies the traditional rules of conducting business. Trust, is influential in changing the pattern of work in business strategizing within and between organisations. Issues of complexity and uncertainty are increasingly becoming the norm both within and between organisational interactions. In this regard trust is crucially needed to strengthen the bond of relationships between a firm’s employees and a company’s strategic partners to realise the maximum possible co-operation in a mutually fulfilling manner. The present essay places trust in wider organizational perspective with a consideration of its dynamics in both within and between organisations. The challenge lies on how organisations formulate policies and put in structural mechanisms to sustain the relationships that go a long way to engender trust both within and between an organisation’s trading partners. The intranet and extranet constitute one such technological invention that is spearheading intraorganisational and interorganisational networks. The analysis is primarily situated within this context to bring out the divergent matters that come to the fore when trust is activated within and between organisations. This paper looks at trust from various theoretical standpoints and discusses the many implications of its presence, inadequacy or absence in both intraorganisational and interorganisational networks. The paper concludes with suggestions for examining trust in future research in the subject area.

Keywords

• Trust
• digital trust
• inter­organisational trust
• familiarity
• organisation
• Trust dimensions