Evolution of Inter-Organizational Trust under Transparency

This article demonstrates how increased inter-organizational transparency alterates the known trajectory of inter-organizational trust development. The introduction of more strongly big data- and analytics-based... [ view full abstract ]

This article demonstrates how increased inter-organizational transparency alterates the known trajectory of inter-organizational trust development. The introduction of more strongly big data- and analytics-based inter-organizational processes enables real-time sharing and analysis of operations performance data, leading to a quicker, more accurate evaluation of partner performance. In this qualitative multiple case study I uncover how the elements of relational trust, namely competence- and goodwill-based trust, are adversely affected by the new information available. I contribute to theory by describing how the known trajectory of inter-organizational trust development is accentuated under situations of heightened transparency and how the constituents of relational trust are reconfigured. Further, I provide a bidirectional view on inter-organizational transparency.