TRUST: THE CONNECTING LINK BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONAL THEORY AND PHILOSOPHICAL ETHICS

TLDR

Trust is widely regarded as essential for interpersonal, managerial, economic, and societal functioning, yet scholars have struggled to precisely define it, partly because its underlying moral duty is often overlooked. The authors aim to synthesize organizational and philosophical definitions of trust by emphasizing an explicit moral duty and proposing a unified definition. They review and compare organizational theory definitions, integrate philosophical ethics perspectives, and construct a new definition grounded in moral duty. The proposed definition could bridge organizational theory and philosophical ethics, enabling integrated research in key areas.

Abstract

Numerous researchers have proposed that trust is essential for understanding interpersonal and group behavior, managerial effectiveness, economic exchange and social or political stability, yet according to a majority of these scholars, this concept has never been precisely defined. This article reviews definitions from various approaches within organizational theory, examines the consistencies and differences, and proposes that trust is based upon an underlying assumption of an implicit moral duty. This moral duty—an anomaly in much of organizational theory—has made a precise definition problematic. Trust also is examined from philosophical ethics, and a synthesis of the organizational and philosophical definitions that emphasizes an explicit sense of moral duty and is based upon accepted ethical principles of analysis is proposed. This new definition has the potential to combine research from the two fields of study in important areas of inquiry.