Multilevel Trust in Organizations: Theoretical, Analytical, and Empirical Advances

Trust--whether it is between individuals, within teams, or between organizations--is embedded in a multilevel system where the environment and member interactions jointly affect trust at any level. Yet research on trust at different levels of analysis has largely developed independently with little cross-fertilization. This book brings together six chapters that take levels effects explicitly into account to extend our current knowledge about the dynamics of trust.

The chapters examine diverse issues including theoretical and practical implications of multilevel trust, temporal dynamics of trust and how to model it, the mutually influencing relationship between interpersonal trust and organizational structures, and trust in specific contexts such as merger, public market, and economic downturn. By adopting the multilevel approach, these chapters provide more nuanced and realistic insights on trust and yield knowledge that otherwise may be erroneous or unattainable. Together, they illustrate unique challenges and opportunities for understanding trust in the changing landscape of work relationships.　

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Trust Research.

Ashley Fulmer is Assistant Professor of Management at Georgia State University. Her research focuses on trust dynamics in organizations and levels of analysis theory and research. She is on the editorial boards of Academy of Management Review and Personnel Psychology and an associate editor for Journal of Trust Research.

Kurt Dirks is Bank of America Professor of Leadership and Vice Chancellor of International Affairs at Washington University in St. Louis. He is known for his research on the determinants, barriers, and outcomes of trust within organizations and published multiple highly cited and award-winning articles on the topic.