TY - JOUR
T1 - Organizational Trust in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution
T2 - Shifts in the Form, Production, and Targets of Trust
AU - Lumineau, Fabrice
AU - Schilke, Oliver
AU - Wang, Wenqian
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation, Division of Social and Economic Sciences (grant no. 1943688) to the second author. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2022.
PY - 2023/1
Y1 - 2023/1
N2 - In this essay, we argue that the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution calls for a reexamination of trust patterns within and across organizations. We identify fundamental changes in terms of (1) what form organizational trust takes, (2) how it is produced, and (3) who needs to be trusted. First, and most broadly, trust is likely to become more impersonal and systemic. Trust between actors is increasingly substituted by trust in a system based on digital technology. Second, in terms of trust production modes, characteristic- and institution-based trust production will gain in importance. Third, despite the move toward system trust, there will nonetheless be a need to trust certain individuals; however, these trustees are no longer the counterparts to the interaction but rather third parties in charge of the technological systems and data. Thus, the focal targets of interpersonal trust are changing.
AB - In this essay, we argue that the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution calls for a reexamination of trust patterns within and across organizations. We identify fundamental changes in terms of (1) what form organizational trust takes, (2) how it is produced, and (3) who needs to be trusted. First, and most broadly, trust is likely to become more impersonal and systemic. Trust between actors is increasingly substituted by trust in a system based on digital technology. Second, in terms of trust production modes, characteristic- and institution-based trust production will gain in importance. Third, despite the move toward system trust, there will nonetheless be a need to trust certain individuals; however, these trustees are no longer the counterparts to the interaction but rather third parties in charge of the technological systems and data. Thus, the focal targets of interpersonal trust are changing.
KW - collaboration
KW - digitalization
KW - research agenda
KW - technological innovation
KW - trust
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85139075713&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/10564926221127852
DO - 10.1177/10564926221127852
M3 - Journal article
SN - 1056-4926
VL - 32
SP - 21
EP - 34
JO - Journal of Management Inquiry
JF - Journal of Management Inquiry
IS - 1
ER -
