IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/jtrust/v7y2017i2p129-149.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Employee perceptions of organisational legitimacy as impersonal bases of organisational trustworthiness and trust

Author

Listed:
  • Kai Lamertz
  • Devasheesh P. Bhave

Abstract

Prior research has amply demonstrated that employees’ personal relationship with the organisation influences their trust in it. In this two-study investigation, we examine how employees’ beliefs about the organisation’s legitimacy relate to their organisational trust because legitimacy signals organisational trustworthiness in the impersonal system of the institutional environment. Results from Study 1, which drew on data from one organisation, reveal that employees’ legitimacy beliefs are related to their organisational trust. Furthermore, results from Study 2, which are based on data from five organisations, reveal that employees’ judgment of the organisation’s trustworthiness mediates the relationship between legitimacy beliefs and organisational trust. Overall, our findings create a new avenue for trust research by advancing the idea that employees' trust in their employer organisation derives in part from the reflection of trustworthiness that arises due to the organisation’s association with the institutional environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Kai Lamertz & Devasheesh P. Bhave, 2017. "Employee perceptions of organisational legitimacy as impersonal bases of organisational trustworthiness and trust," Journal of Trust Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(2), pages 129-149, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jtrust:v:7:y:2017:i:2:p:129-149
    DOI: 10.1080/21515581.2017.1304220
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/21515581.2017.1304220
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/21515581.2017.1304220?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kai Lamertz & Pursey P. M. A. R. Heugens & Loïc Calmet, 2005. "The Configuration of Organizational Images Among Firms in the Canadian Beer Brewing Industry," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(4), pages 817-843, June.
    2. Gillespie, Nicole & Dietz, Graham & Lockey, Steve, 2014. "Organizational Reintegration and Trust Repair after an Integrity Violation: A Case Study," Business Ethics Quarterly, Cambridge University Press, vol. 24(3), pages 371-410, July.
    3. Brayden G. King & Teppo Felin & David A. Whetten, 2010. "Perspective---Finding the Organization in Organizational Theory: A Meta-Theory of the Organization as a Social Actor," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(1), pages 290-305, February.
    4. Greta Hsu & Michael T. Hannan, 2005. "Identities, Genres, and Organizational Forms," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 16(5), pages 474-490, October.
    5. Bill McEvily & Vincenzo Perrone & Akbar Zaheer, 2003. "Trust as an Organizing Principle," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 14(1), pages 91-103, February.
    6. Vélez, Maria L. & Sánchez, José M. & Álvarez-Dardet, Concha, 2008. "Management control systems as inter-organizational trust builders in evolving relationships: Evidence from a longitudinal case study," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(7-8), pages 968-994.
    7. Michael Pirson & Deepak Malhotra, 2011. "Foundations of Organizational Trust: What Matters to Different Stakeholders?," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(4), pages 1087-1104, August.
    8. Niina Erkama & Eero Vaara, 2010. "Struggles over legitimacy in global organizational restructuring : A Rhetorical perspective on legitimation strategies and dynamics in a shutdown case," Post-Print hal-02312530, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Brühl, Rolf & Basel, Jörn S. & Kury, Max F., 2018. "Communication after an integrity-based trust violation: How organizational account giving affects trust," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 161-170.
    2. Krzeminska, Anna & Lundmark, Erik & Härtel, Charmine E.J., 2021. "Legitimation of a heterogeneous market category through covert prototype differentiation," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(2).
    3. Kähkönen, T. & Blomqvist, K. & Gillespie, N. & Vanhala, M., 2021. "Employee trust repair: A systematic review of 20 years of empirical research and future research directions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 98-109.
    4. Roshima Said & Corina Joseph & Noor Zahirah Mohd. Sidek & Azlyn Zawawi & Zaherawati Zakaria & Mahadir Ladisma@Awis & Roziya Abu & Normah Omar, 2018. "Development of Bumiputera Communicated Identity Index for Malaysian Statutory Bodies," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 8(3), pages 198-209, March.
    5. Oliver Schilke & Karen S. Cook, 2015. "Sources of alliance partner trustworthiness: Integrating calculative and relational perspectives," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(2), pages 276-297, February.
    6. Shelley L. Brickson, 2013. "Athletes, Best Friends, and Social Activists: An Integrative Model Accounting for the Role of Identity in Organizational Identification," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(1), pages 226-245, February.
    7. J.-P. Vergne & Tyler Wry, 2014. "Categorizing Categorization Research: Review, Integration, and Future Directions," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(1), pages 56-94, January.
    8. Reusen, Evelien & Stouthuysen, Kristof, 2020. "Trust transfer and partner selection in interfirm relationships," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    9. Bozic, Branko & Siebert, Sabina & Martin, Graeme, 2019. "A strategic action fields perspective on organizational trust repair," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 58-66.
    10. Leonhard Dobusch & Dennis Schoeneborn, 2015. "Fluidity, Identity, and Organizationality: The Communicative Constitution of Anonymous," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(8), pages 1005-1035, December.
    11. Brayden G King & Elisabeth S. Clemens & Melissa Fry, 2011. "Identity Realization and Organizational Forms: Differentiation and Consolidation of Identities Among Arizona's Charter Schools," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(3), pages 554-572, June.
    12. Nicole Gillespie & Mattia Anesa & Morgana Lizzio-Wilson & Cassandra Chapman & Karen Healy & Matthew Hornsey, 2024. "How do Sector Level Factors Influence Trust Violations in Not-for-Profit Organizations? A Multilevel Model," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 191(2), pages 373-398, May.
    13. Kougiannou, Nadia K. & O'Meara Wallis, Matthew, 2020. "‘Chimneys don't belch out carnations!’ The (in)tolerance of corporate hypocrisy: A case study of trust and community engagement strategies," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 348-362.
    14. Marberg, Angela & van Kranenburg, Hans & Korzilius, Hubert, 2017. "The big bug: The legitimation of the edible insect sector in the Netherlands," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 111-123.
    15. Jarratt, Denise & Ceric, Arnela, 2015. "The complexity of trust in business collaborations," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 2-12.
    16. Hossfeld, Heiko, 2018. "Legitimation and institutionalization of managerial practices. The role of organizational rhetoric," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 9-21.
    17. Cosmina Lelia Voinea & Hans van Kranenburg, 2017. "Media Influence and Firms Behaviour: A Stakeholder Management Perspective," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 10(10), pages 23-38, October.
    18. Lepori, Benedetto & Montauti, Martina, 2020. "Bringing the organization back in: Flexing structural responses to competing logics in budgeting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    19. Elert, Niklas & Stam, Erik & Stenkula, Mikael, 2019. "Intrapreneurship and Trust," Working Paper Series 1280, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    20. Cecilia Varendh-Mansson & Tyler Wry & Ariane Szafarz, 2020. "Anchors Aweigh? Then Time to Head Upstream Why we Need to Theorize “Mission” before “Drift”," Working Papers CEB PostPrintCEB024, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:jtrust:v:7:y:2017:i:2:p:129-149. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RJTR20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.