Sourcing power and managing distrust: government communication in Northern Ireland

Extant research indicates some kind of relationship between distrust and power, but this relationship is under-explored. This paper is interested in the interplay of these two mechanisms within a complex political power system... [ view full abstract ]

Extant research indicates some kind of relationship between distrust and power, but this relationship is under-explored. This paper is interested in the interplay of these two mechanisms within a complex political power system which is known to incentivise distrust: Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government. We explore distrust and power through interviews with 33 employees working in one area of this highly challenging context: government communication. Our research makes two important contributions. Firstly, we respond to calls for more research into how power moderates and affects trust dynamics (Fulmer and Gelfand, 2012; Oberg and Svensson, 2010); we do this by considering distrust, a more unusual test case and thus apt for theoretical advancement. We confirm the notion that at high levels, ‘power drives out trust’ (Oberg and Svensson, 2010). However, we refine this by demonstrating that distrust is not a constraint for delivering particular professional goals whenever power is sufficiently high and control systems are ineffective. Secondly, we make suggestions, useful for managers in our research context and beyond, as to what form of power should be avoided in order to limit distrust, emphasising that an effective and mutually respected control system is required to do so. Given the perceived impact of both the political and communication systems on the dynamics here, we call for more research into the role of organisational systems on distrust between organisational groups. Further research in other contexts is also required to ascertain the generalizability of our findings.