Enhancing Performance

This paper analyses the concepts of trust, commitment, motivation and performance. In specific terms, the authors ascertain what are the key components of trust in the workplace. The paper provides a deeper understanding of the value of the relational construct trust to organisational motivation and performance. A global multinational firm was surveyed to confirm the Morgan Hunt (1994) Commitment-Trust theory, that trust is an antecedent to commitment. The authors then develop and test a revised performance model that is based on the work of Maier (1955) and Mayer et al (1995). This second survey, which sampled a range of multinational organisations, sought Human Resource managers' opinions on both specific motivational influences in the workplace and specific performance factors in the workplace. The results confirm that all aspects of the construct trust tested in this paper have a significant impact on motivation and performance. In affirming this, the article concludes by proposing refinements to Maiers's (1955) existing performance model, which will assist management in trust building and also provide management with a deeper understanding of the importance of trust and motivation in organisational performance.

[1]  Rolf van Dick,et al.  Social Identities and Commitments at Work: Toward an Integrative Model. , 2006 .

[2]  M. Edwards,et al.  Organizational Identification: A Conceptual and Operational Review , 2005 .

[3]  D. Scott.  The Causal Relationship Between Trust And The Assessed Value Of Management By Objectives , 1980 .

[4]  G. Zaltman,et al.  Relationships between Providers and Users of Market Research: The Dynamics of Trust within and between Organizations , 1992 .

[5]  Kae H. Chung,et al.  Developing a Comprehensive Model of Motivation and Performance. , 1968 .

[6]  L. Atwater.  The Relative Importance of Situational and Individual Variables in Predicting Leader Behavior , 1988 .

[7]  Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa,et al.  Communication and Trust in Global Virtual Teams , 1999 .

[8]  Sarah MacCurtain,et al.  Understanding the Dynamics of Collective Learning: The Role of Trust and Social Capital , 2008 .

[9]  D. Ferrin,et al.  The Role of Trust in Organizational Settings , 2001 .

[10]  S. Halliday.  How ‘placed trust’ works in a service encounter , 2004 .

[11]  L. Strickland.  Surveillance and trust1 , 1958 .

[12]  L. Solomon.  The influence of some types of power relationships and game strategies upon the development of interpersonal trust. , 1960 .

[13]  K. Ruyter,et al.  Marketing service relationships: the role of commitment , 1998 .

[14]  J. Brockner,et al.  When Trust Matters: The Moderating Effect of Outcome Favorability , 1997 .

[15]  Martin R. Edwards,et al.  Organizational identification: Development and testing of a conceptually grounded measure , 2007 .

[16]  C. Camarero,et al.  Trust as the Key to Relational Commitment , 2004 .

[17]  Richard M. Steers,et al.  Organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and turnover among psychiatric technicians. , 1974 .

[18]  Shawn L. Berman,et al.  The Structure of Optimal Trust: Moral and Strategic Implications , 1999 .

[19]  John P. Meyer,et al.  A three-component conceptualization of organizational commitment , 1991 .

[20]  H. W. Kee,et al.  Conceptual and methodological considerations in the study of trust and suspicion , 1970 .

[21]  L. Hosmer.  TRUST: THE CONNECTING LINK BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONAL THEORY AND PHILOSOPHICAL ETHICS , 1995 .

[22]  Gary Blau,et al.  Operationalizing direction and level of effort and testing their relationships to individual job performance , 1993 .

[23]  John K. Butler.  Toward Understanding and Measuring Conditions of Trust: Evolution of a Conditions of Trust Inventory , 1991 .

[24]  T. Das,et al.  Between Trust and Control: Developing Confidence in Partner Cooperation in Alliances , 1998 .

[25]  Martin R. Edwards,et al.  Perceived organizational support, organizational identification, and employee outcomes testing a simultaneous multifoci model , 2010 .

[26]  J. Cook,et al.  New work attitude measures of trust, organizational commitment and personal need non‐fulfilment , 1980 .

[27]  Gareth R. Jones,et al.  The experience and evolution of trust: Implications for cooperation and teamwork , 1998 .

[28]  L. Porter,et al.  The Measurement of Organizational Commitment. , 1979 .

[29]  T. Huston,et al.  The Dyadic Trust Scale: Toward Understanding Interpersonal Trust in Close Relationships. , 1980 .

[30]  Ravi S. Achrol,et al.  Evolution of the Marketing Organization: New Forms for Turbulent Environments , 1991 .

[31]  S. Robinson.  Trust and Breach of the Psychological Contract , 1996 .

[32]  P. Ring,et al.  Structuring cooperative relationships between organizations , 1992 .

[33]  S. Sitkin,et al.  Explaining the Limited Effectiveness of Legalistic “Remedies” for Trust/Distrust , 1993 .

[34]  David Gilbert,et al.  Relationship marketing practice in relation to different bank ownerships: a study of banks in Hong Kong , 2003 .

[35]  Joseph P. Cannon,et al.  An Examination of the Nature of Trust in Buyer–Seller Relationships: , 1997 .

[36]  S. Hunt,et al.  The Commitment-Trust Theory of Relationship Marketing , 1994 .

[37]  Colin Jevons,et al.  Trust, Brand Equity and Brand Reality in Internet Business Relationships: An Interdisciplinary Approach , 2000 .

[38]  F. Herzberg.  One more time : How do you motivate your employees? , 1968 .

[39]  Lou E. Pelton,et al.  Toward a Synthesized Framework of Relational Commitment: Implications for Marketing Channel Theory and Practice , 1997 .

[40]  Daniel J. McAllister.  Affect- and Cognition-Based Trust as Foundations for Interpersonal Cooperation in Organizations , 1995 .

[41]  David T. Wilson,et al.  Buyer-supplier relationships today , 1993 .

[42]  C. O'Reilly.  Corporations, Culture, and Commitment: Motivation and Social Control in Organizations , 1989 .

[43]  J. H. Davis,et al.  An Integrative Model Of Organizational Trust , 1995 .

[44]  K. Giffin.  The contribution of studies of source credibility to a theory of interpersonal trust in the communication process. , 1967, Psychological bulletin.