Trust Development in Workplace Relations During Change: A Multi-Level Analysis of Narratives From Leaders and Followers

Trust is emerging as a more and more important intangible asset and required skill in workplaces and for leadership enabling organizational change and improving performance. Trust forms a foundation for cooperation in workplace relationships. This paper discusses and examines trust development within the relational context in workplaces and leadership during change. We study and analyze trust development at different levels of organizations, i.e., organizational, team, dyadic and individual levels, and explore the dynamics between levels. The qualitative, narrative study aims to present findings for increasing understanding of how interpersonal trust develops during change in work relationships including leaders, followers and team members from different organizations. In the paper, trust development means exploring how trust is built, sustained, deteriorated, broken and possibly restored. The dynamics between different levels is also examined. Studies analyzing multi-level trust are scarce. Thus, the paper aims to add to scientific knowledge by providing insights and implications for workplaces, leadership practices, and human capital development. The findings benefit workplace practices through the implications inferred from this more in-depth, qualitative research. Further, this paper adopts a relational and resource-based view of trust, meaning that trust is seen as intellectual capital built through interactions and reciprocal activity between people. Empirical narrative data disclose leaders' and employees' narratives on trust development during change. The findings show that the passage of time from the episodes of change seems to affect how trust development is perceived during change. Findings and implications are discussed in more detail in the paper. For practice, the paper implies that management should look after the building and sustaining of a trustful climate and relations in and between all levels in an organization.