Intra-organizational trust in public organizations – the study of interpersonal trust in both vertical and horizontal relationships from a bidirectional perspective

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to enhance our understanding of intra-organizational trust in public organizations by studying interpersonal trust in both vertical and horizontal relationships from a bidirectional perspective. Previous research has focused on trust at a single level of analysis, ignoring influences from other organizational levels, which has led to gaps in our understanding of trust. In addition, few studies take a bidirectional perspective where a trustor is simultaneously a trustee and vice versa. Through a case study, we contributed to filling this gap by studying the antecedents of trust – ability, benevolence and integrity.