Trust between Boundary-Spanning Agents: The Role of Relational Competencies

Isabella Hatak, Dietmar Roessl

Institute for Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, Vienna, Austria.

DOI: 10.4236/jss.2015.33001                

Abstract

Against the background of principal-agent and transaction-cost theoretical considerations, this study addresses the question whether relational competencies relate to trust within cooperative relationships, taking into account also situational and personal factors. In its conclusion, the study presents an experimentally confirmed model (n = 282) that shows the strong causal relationship between relational competencies and trust allowing boundary-spanning agents to exert influence on the development and maintenance of complex cooperative relationships characterized by long-term objectives.

Keywords

Boundary-Spanning Agents, Competencies, Trust, Cooperation

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Adler, P.S. (2001) Market, Hierarchy and Trust: The Knowledge Economy and the Future of Capitalism. Organization Science, 12, 215-234. http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.12.2.215.10117
[2]	Ring, P.S. and Van de Ven, A. (1992) Structuring Cooperative Relationships between Organizations. Strategic Management Journal, 13, 483-498. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/smj.4250130702
[3]	Das, T.K. and Teng, B.-S. (2003) Partner Analysis and Alliance Performance. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 19, 279-308. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0956-5221(03)00003-4
[4]	Currall, St. and Inkpen, A. (2002) A Multilevel Approach to Trust in Joint Ventures. Journal of International Business Studies, 33, 479-495. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8491027
[5]	Moellering, G. (2002) Perceived Trustworthiness and Inter-Firm Governance: Empirical Evidence from the UK Printing Industry. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 26, 139-160. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cje/26.2.139
[6]	Mohr, A. and Puck, J. (2013) Revisiting the Trust-Performance Link in Strategic Alliances. Management International Review, 53, 269-289. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11575-012-0145-0
[7]	Robson, M.J., Skarmeas, D. and Spyropoulou, St. (2006) Behavioral Attributes and Performance in International Strategic Alliances: Review and Future Directions. International Marketing Review, 23, 585-609. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02651330610712120
[8]	Zaheer, A., McEvily, B. and Perrone, V. (1998) Does Trust Matter? Exploring the Effects of Interfirm and Interpersonal Trust on Performance. Organization Science, 9, 141-158. http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.9.2.141
[9]	Mayer, R.C., Davis, J.H. and Schoorman, F. (1995) An Integration Model of Organizational Trust. Academy of Management Review, 20, 709-735.
[10]	Williamson, O.E. (1975) Markets and Hierarchies: Analysis and Antitrust Implications. Free Press, New York.
[11]	Madhok, A. (1995) Opportunism and Trust in Joint Venture Relationships: An Exploratory Study and a Model. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 11, 57-74. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0956-5221(94)00029-H
[12]	Krishnan, R., Martin, X. and Noorderhaven, N.G. (2006) When Does Trust Matter to Alliance Performance? Academy of Management Journal, 49, 894-917. http://dx.doi.org/10.5465/AMJ.2006.22798171
[13]	Lukas, C. and Schoendube, J.R. (2010) Trust and Adaptive Learning in Implicit Contracts. Review of Managerial Science, 6, 1-32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11846-010-0045-2
[14]	Rousseau, D.M., Sitkin, S.B., Burt, R.S. and Camerer, C. (1998) Not So Different after All: A Cross-Discipline View of Trust. Academy of Management Review, 23, 393-404. http://dx.doi.org/10.5465/AMR.1998.926617
[15]	Lavie, D. (2006) The Competitive Advantage of Interconnected Firms: An Extension of the Resource-Based View. Academy of Management Review, 31, 638-658. http://dx.doi.org/10.5465/AMR.2006.21318922
[16]	Van de Ven, A.H. and Ring, P.S. (2006) Relying on Trust in Cooperative Inter-Organizational Relationships. In: Bachmann, R. and Zaheer, A., Eds., Handbook of Trust Research, Elgar, Cheltenham, 144-164. http://dx.doi.org/10.4337/9781847202819.00015
[17]	Nooteboom, B. (1996) Trust, Opportunism and Governance: A Process and Control Model. Organization Studies, 17, 985-1010. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/017084069601700605
[18]	Roessl, D. (1994) Gestaltung komplexer Austauschbeziehun-gen—Analyse zwischenbetrieblicher Kooperation. Gabler, Wiesbaden.
[19]	McAllister, D.J. (1995) Affect and Cogni-tion-Based Trust as Foundations for Interpersonal Cooperation in Organizations. Academy of Management Journal, 38, 24-58. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/256727
[20]	Mishra, A.K. (1996) Organizational Responses to Crisis: The Centrality of Trust. In: Kramer, R.M. and Tyler, T.R., E., Eds., Trust in Organizations, Sage, Thousand Oaks, 261-287.
[21]	Sichtmann, C. (2007) An Analysis of Antecedents and Consequences of Trust in a Corporate Brand. European Journal of Marketing, 41, 999-1015. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/03090560710773318
[22]	Erpenbeck, J. and Heyse, V. (2007) Die Kompetenzbiographie. Waxmann, Muenster.
[23]	Kauffeld, S., Grote, S. and Frieling, E. (2007) Das Kasseler-Kompetenz-Raster. In: Erpenbeck, J. and von Rosenstiel, L., Eds., Handbuch Kompetenzmessung, Schaeffer-Poeschl, Stuttgart, 224.
[24]	Edwards, M.R. and Ewen, A.J. (1996) 360?-Feedback: The Powerful New Model for Employee Assessment & Performance Improvement. AMACOM, New York.
[25]	Argyle, M. (1969). Social Interaction. Methuen, London.
[26]	Docherty, P. and Marking, C. (1997) Understanding Changing Competence Demands. In: Docherty, P. and Nyhan, B., Eds., Human Competence and Business Development. Emerging Patterns in European Companies, Springer, London, 19-42. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-0915-0_2
[27]	Rotter, J.B. (1967) A New Scale for the Measurement of Interpersonal Trust. Journal of Personality, 35, 651-665. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.1967.tb01454.x
[28]	Currall, St. and Judge, T.A. (1995) Measuring Trust be-tween Organizational Boundary Role Persons. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 64, 151-170. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/obhd.1995.1097
[29]	Coleman, J.S. (1990) Foundations of Social Theory. Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
[30]	Campbell, D.T. and Stanley, J.C. (1963) Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Research. Rand McNally, Chicago.
[31]	Fehr, E., Fischbacher, U., Schupp, J., von Rosenbladt, B. and Wagner, G.G. (2003) A Nationwide Laboratory Examining Trust and Trustworthiness by Integrating Behavioural Experiments into Representative Surveys. Centre for Economic Policy Research, London.
[32]	Costa, A.C. (2000) A Matter of Trust: Effects on the Performance and Effectiveness of Teams in Organizations. Riddekerk Print, Tilburg.
[33]	Spaeth, J.F. (2008) Interpersonelles Vertrauen in Organisationen. Peter Lang, Frankfurt.
[34]	Sitkin, S.B. and Weingart, L.R. (1995) Determinants of Risky Decision-Making Behavior. Academy of Management Journal, 38, 1573-1592. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/256844
[35]	Axelrod, R. (1984) The Evolution of Cooperation (Vol. 2). Basic Books, New York.
[36]	O’Reilly III, C.A. and Roberts, K.H. (1974) Information Filtration in Organizations: Three Experiments. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 11, 253-265. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0030-5073(74)90018-X