Can displays of care for and benevolence towards unrelated external stakeholders increase Organizational Social Trust in the workplace? A Study of Chinese and Canadian Firms

In this paper we examine the influence that manifestations of care and benevolence toward unrelated external stakeholders by an enterprise, have on the development of social trust in its workplace. Social trust, an important... [ view full abstract ]

In this paper we examine the influence that manifestations of care and benevolence toward unrelated external stakeholders by an enterprise, have on the development of social trust in its workplace. Social trust, an important element of the organization’s social capital, is impersonal trust in others in the organization which is not based on personal knowledge about their individual trustworthiness. We develop a theoretical framework based on the idea that the manifestations of care and benevolence to external stakeholders serve as signals to organizational members to embrace the underlying injunctive norms of care and benevolence toward others and as a consequence the internalization of norms of trustworthy behaviors and trusting into the enterprise’s culture. We tested our predictions using surveys conducted in Canada and China. We found in both China and Canada that manifestations of care and benevolence by enterprises towards external stakeholders facilitate the development of social trust among their employees; the development of social trust is more significant in larger organizations and in employees higher in the hierarchy of the enterprise.