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Trust and Organizational Design: Explaining Cross-National Differences in Work Autonomy

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  • van Hoorn, Andre

Abstract

We open the black box of what goes on within firms in terms of how they organize and manage their operations. Work autonomy is a key aspect of firm organization and in this note we test the hypothesis that societal trust affects the level of autonomy that firms grant to their employees. Analysis of up to 189,213 individuals from 30 countries shows that trust is indeed highly conducive to work autonomy. This result is robust to controlling for a wide range of other features of countries’ institutional environment, including measures of labor regulations and quality of formal institutions. Our findings highlight the importance of societal trust in shaping economic activity.

Suggested Citation

  • van Hoorn, Andre, 2013. "Trust and Organizational Design: Explaining Cross-National Differences in Work Autonomy," MPRA Paper 80016, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:80016
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social capital; management; workplace practices; job autonomy; organizational design;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • D23 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights
    • J81 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Working Conditions
    • M12 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Personnel Management; Executives; Executive Compensation
    • M50 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - General

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