Direct and Indirect Effects of Third-Party Relationships on Interpersonal Trust

Publication Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

7-2006

Abstract

Past studies of the determinants of interpersonal trust have focused primarily on how trust forms in isolated dyads. Yet within organizations, trust typically develops between individuals who are embedded in a complex web of existing and potential relationships. In this article, the authors identify 3 alternative ways in which a trustor and trustee may be linked to each other via third parties: network closure (linked via social interactions with third parties), trust transferability (linked via trusted third parties), and structural equivalence (linked via the similarity of their relationships with all potential third parties within the organization). Each of these is argued to influence interpersonal trust via a distinct social mechanism. The authors hypothesized that network closure and structural equivalence would predict interpersonal trust indirectly via their impact on interpersonal organizational citizenship behaviors performed within the interpersonal relationship, whereas trust transferability would predict trust directly. Social network analyses of data gathered from a medium-sized work organization provide substantial support for the hypotheses and also suggest important directions for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved)(from the journal abstract)

Keywords

Interpersonal trust, third-party relationships, social networks, organizational citizenship behaviors

Discipline

Human Resources Management | Organizational Behavior and Theory | Social Psychology and Interaction

Research Areas

Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources

Publication

Journal of Applied Psychology

Volume

91

Issue

4

First Page

870

Last Page

883

ISSN

0021-9010

Identifier

10.1037/0021-9010.91.4.870

Publisher

American Psychological Association

City or Country

USA

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