Organizational Reintegration and Trust Repair after an Integrity Violation: A Case Study

TLDR

This paper presents a holistic, contextualised case study of reintegration and trust repair at a UK utilities firm following its fraud and data manipulation scandal, drawing on conceptual frameworks of reintegration and organizational trust repair to analyze the company’s decisions and actions to restore stakeholder trust. The study applies these conceptual frameworks to examine the company’s decisions and actions aimed at restoring stakeholder trust. The analysis identifies seven themes on the merits of proposed approaches for reintegration after an integrity violation—including open investigations, accurate explanations, apologies, penance, and systemic reforms—and offers novel insights on the role of organizational identity, leadership changes, cultural reforms, and procedural modifications, while highlighting the dynamic nature of stakeholder salience and supporting both existing propositions and suggesting theoretical extensions.

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This paper presents a holistic, contextualised case study of reintegration and trust repair at a UK utilities firm in the wake of its fraud and data manipulation scandal. Drawing upon conceptual frameworks of reintegration and organizational trust repair, we analyze the decisions and actions taken by the company in its efforts to restore trust with its stakeholders. The analysis reveals seven themes on the merits of proposed approaches for reintegration after an integrity violation (including open investigations, accurate explanations, apologies, penance, and systemic reforms), and novel insights on the role of organizational identity, “changing of the guard” and cultural reforms alongside procedural modifications. The case further supports the dynamic nature of stakeholder salience across the reintegration process. The study both supports propositions from existing frameworks and suggests novel theoretical extensions for future research.