A Process View on Interorganizational Trust Development - A Longitudinal Case Study

This paper discusses how trust develops at the interorganizational level in the context of a change process, more specifically, a merger of two university organizations. The merger is studied empirically from the managerial... [ view full abstract ]

This paper discusses how trust develops at the interorganizational level in the context of a change process, more specifically, a merger of two university organizations. The merger is studied empirically from the managerial point of view in a case study. Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is applied to the qualitative longitudinal data consisting of top management level data, more specifically, the Rector’s speeches in a period of seventeen years. The change process in the organization is looked and studied from the perspective of trust and trust-building. It is seen as a ‘leap of faith’ (Möllering 2006) reflecting the vulnerability and risk in the merger. Trust ‘bridges’ the risk (Luhmann 1979), forming a potential unifying force for the changing management. Theoretically, trust development within the context of a change process between the two organizations is explored as a process by adopting a process study approach (Langley et al. 2013; Savolainen & Ikonen 2016) and drawing also on two trust models; the three-stage model of trust development in a (professional) relationship by Lewicki & Bunker (1996), and the framework by Ring and Van de Ven (1994) of the developmental processes in cooperative interorganizational relationships. This longitudinal study contributes to a still rarely applied process view of studying trust development. Trust development is seen as a dynamic process, where time plays an essential role. The study implies trust to develop into a potential intangible asset (Savolainen 2011) for unifying the changing organization.

Keywords: Process study, organizational trust, development, critical discourse analysis, top management, merger