Understanding the Effects of Substantive Responses on Trust Following a Transgression

Publication Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

3-2011

Abstract

Four experiments were conducted to investigate the implications of ‘substantive’ responses for the repair of trust following a violation and the cognitive processes that govern how and when they are effective. These studies examined two forms of substantive responses, penance and regulation, that represent different categories of trust repair attempts. The findings from Studies 1–3 suggest that both can be effective to the extent that they elicit the crucial mediating cognition of perceived repentance. Data from Study 2 revealed that trustors saw signals of repentance as more informative when the transgression was due to a lapse of competence than due to a lapse of integrity. Study 4 compared these substantive responses to apologies (a non-substantive response) and revealed that, despite their surface-level differences, they each repaired trust through ‘perceived repentance.’ The paper offers an integrative framework for understanding the relationships among a range of trustor responses.

Keywords

Trust, Leadership, Repentance

Discipline

Human Resources Management | Organizational Behavior and Theory

Research Areas

Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources

Publication

Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes

Volume

114

Issue

2

First Page

87

Last Page

103

ISSN

0749-5978

Identifier

10.1016/j.obhdp.2010.10.003

Publisher

Elsevier

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2010.10.003

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