Cross-cultural measurement of supervisor trustworthiness: An assessment of measurement invariance across three cultures

Autistic traits and gender modulate emotion changes before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show an enhanced response to stressors, and gender plays an important role in stress response. Thus, autistic traits (ATs) in the general population and gender may regulate the emotion changes before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the present study, participants were divided into higher and lower ATs groups. The generalized linear models were used to estimate the effects of the independent variables (e.g. the COVID-19 pandemic status (before, during), gender (male, female), and AT groups (higher ATs, lower ATs) and their interactions on emotions measured by the Positive and Negative Affect scales. The results showed that the COVID-19 pandemic reduced positive emotions and increased fear and anger. Furthermore, compared with the status before the COVID-19 pandemic, individuals with higher ATs and females experienced stronger anger and fear than individuals with lower ATs and males during the pandemic. The present study revealed the emotional impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and greater emotional susceptibility to the pandemic among individuals with higher ATs and females. Our findings provide prospective evidence for understanding the ASD/ATs-related enhanced response to pathogen threat-related stressors and have implications for COVID-19 crisis interventions.

Spiritual Dimensions in Leadership: A Comparative Analysis of Polish and Bhutanese Managers

Purpose

This study examined the effects of vision, calling and membership on organizational commitment and performance in the Asian and European context, which according to our knowledge has not been sufficiently employed previously. Firstly, by drawing on the spiritual leadership concept, the differences between leaders’ spirituality in Poland and Bhutan were examined. Secondly, the relationships between the constructs: vision, calling, membership, organizational commitment and performance of both Polish and Bhutanese managers were studied.

Methods

This study adopted the spiritual leadership scale proposed by Fry. The data used in this study were gathered through a survey of 194 managers. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and the path coefficient were applied in the study.

Results

By comparing spiritual dimensions of leadership, the study demonstrated positive and significant relationships between the constructs that influence each other in various ways. The study indicates that the strength of the influence of specific dimensions depends on the perception of their significance for managers due to the cultural context.

Conclusion

The study contributed to the literature by examining the dimensions of spiritual leadership that are endorsed differently by the Polish and the Bhutanese managers. The findings shed light on the creation of a positive work environment by managers in which employees can feel appreciated and fulfilled.

Autistic traits and negative emotions in the general population during COVID-19: Mediating roles of the behavioural immune system and COVID-19 risk perception

Identifying the susceptibility factors of the emotional response to COVID-19 is highly significant for the psychological epidemic-crisis intervention, and autistic-related traits (ATs) is likely to be one of the candidate factors. The current study explored the relationships between ATs, emotional response to COVID-19, and the behavioural immune system (BIS) measured by trait pathogen avoidance and COVID-19 risk perception in the general population. The results showed that ATs predicted increased negative emotions directly and indirectly by enhancing the activation tendency of BIS and COVID-19 risk perception. The findings provide a candidate hypothesis for the reaction characteristics to pathogen threats in individuals with ASD and expand the understanding of individual differences in response to COVID-19.

Escalas de Cultura de Dorfman y Howell. Análisis de Invarianza Factorial Progresiva

Uno de los modelos teóricos más influyentes en la investigación transcultural es el desarrollado por Geert Hofstede, que originalmente consideraba cuatro dimensiones con las cuales se podía comparar diferentes culturas nacionales. Este modelo se basaba en las atribuciones y percepciones de los sujetos en relación a la cultura donde se desenvolvían, sin ser focalizado su modelo de medida en situaciones específicas como la pertenencia a una determinada organización o las creencias individuales. Dorfman y Howell (1988) elaboran una versión para las escalas de Hofstede para incluir el dominio organizacional en las respuestas, como forma de dar cuenta de la cultura laboral. Estas escalas han sido difundidas y utilizadas ampliamente dentro de la comunidad de investigación transcultural, sin presentarse un análisis en profundidad de la calidad de medida de tales escalas. Este artículo se aboca en presentar los resultados del análisis de la invarianza factorial de las escalas, considerando las cuatro dimensiones originales de Hofstede, a través del análisis factorial progresivo considerando los tres pasos de restricciones respecto de los resultados.

How employees define organisational trust: analysing employee trust in organisation

Purpose

Most business organisations try to create and maintain trustful relationships with their various stakeholders. Among all, sustaining a trustful relationship with employees has been particularly important for organisations. However, due to the multidimensional structure and changing nature of concept across settings, it is difficult to identify what makes an organisation trustworthy for its employees. The purpose of this study is to analyse the concept of organisational trust and identify how employees actually define organisational trust.

Design/methodology/approach

In the study, a survey was conducted on a sample of 104 employees who were working in Turkey. Following a qualitative and quantitative approach, the data were analysed to categorise the definitions of respondents according to the theoretical framework.

Findings

The findings of study closely overlap with the relevant literature, but they also extend the scope of definition with including new factors such as reputation management, strategic management or ethics and values. According to results, the perceptions of employees on organisational trust vary depending on their individual and organisational characteristics.

Practical implications

The study reveals the context depending nature of organisational trust. Developing a wider sense by capturing its full meaning and reflecting the different expectations of employees can increase the trust in organisations.

Originality/value

Based on the detailed review of literature, the study identifies the major dimensions of organisational trust and then reveals the similarities and differences with the literature. The study provides a viable perspective on the concept to capture its meaning in different contexts.

The Relationship of Trust and Intent to Stay Among Registered Nurses at Jordanian Hospitals

AIMS

This study examined the relationship between the level of trust with immediate supervisor and the level of intent to stay at work among registered nurses (RNs) in Jordan and explored if there is a significant difference between RNs working in governmental- and university-affiliated teaching hospitals.

BACKGROUND

Financial retention strategies are not feasible in low- and middle-income countries. This study investigated if the level of trust that RNs hold toward their immediate supervisors could affect their intent to stay at work, so as to be used as a nonfinancial strategy.

METHODS

A descriptive correlational design was used to examine this relationship among a convenience sample of 260 hospital nurses in Jordan. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data.

RESULTS

When the level of trust increased, the level of intent to stay at work also increased. RNs working in governmental-affiliated teaching hospitals reported higher levels of trust and intent to stay at work than those working in university-affiliated teaching hospitals.

CONCLUSION

The findings emphasized the positive effect of trust with immediate supervisor on the level of RNs' intent to stay.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT

Building trust between RNs and their immediate supervisors could be an important retention strategy.

Social representations of trust among teachers and principals in Cameroonian, Indian, and Finnish schools

Quantitative studies on trust often attempt to measure levels of trust, while neglecting local meanings of trust. These studies are usually based on Eurocentric models in Western cultures, though the models may have limited ecological validity. As a result, this study sought to investigate trust as locally produced structures and practices in Cameroon, Finland and India. In each country, teachers and principals were interviewed individually, while nineteen focus groups among teachers were also conducted (N = 111). The theory of social representations provides the methodological framework for the study. Our analyses suggest that in Cameroon understandings of trust were anchored in complementarity, in Finland in contracts, and in India in social hierarchies. We suggest that the Cameroonian representations were more fluid than in the other two countries, which may be due in part to the working arrangements there. In all of the national contexts, numerous metaphors and imagery helped to solidify trust as phenomena built in everyday practices. Cooperation was an important element in the data from all of the country contexts, although it had particular and varying meanings in each. Finally, we interpret culturally embedded dichotomies, or themata, that participants draw upon to imbue workplace trust with meaning. We discuss the analyses and interpretations in terms of local practices and the concrete conditions in which the participants worked.

Cross-Country Validation of a Cultural Scale in Measuring Trust in Automation

Human automation interaction is a complex process. How autonomous assistance impacts trust in automation as well as how trust affects human calibration and use of automation has been investigated for both dynamic contexts, including the internal variables (e.g., cultural characteristics) and external factors (e.g., system settings). Having standardized measures to capture trust and its antecedents is particularly critical to understanding how factors associated with the human operators and autonomous applications affects the way they are used. This paper reports the development of a trust instrument and several rounds of cross-country validation, including U.S., German, Taiwanese, and Turkish populations. The results confirm that the instrument which was developed reliably measured human trust in automation across cultures.

The mediating role of job satisfaction in the relationship of vertical trust and distributed leadership in health care context

Purpose

This study aims at investigating the effect of vertical trust on distributed leadership (DL) and performance as mediated by job satisfaction, and further to observe the role of DL in carrying out the effect of satisfaction on employees’ performance.

Design/methodology/approach

As grounded in the organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) literature, the author proposes that employees’ participation in DL should be viewed as an extra role behavior, as leadership functions are not directly related to their job description. The study uses large-scale survey data from a study in one of Denmark’s largest public hospitals (N = 1,439).

Findings

The results of structural equation modelling (SEM) analysis showed that job satisfaction mediates the relationship between vertical trust and DL, and DL had a positive impact on job performance. Furthermore, the results showed that job satisfaction had a positive impact on DL and employees’ performance. Moreover, DL has positively affected employees’ performance, and it carries the impact of job satisfaction on performance.

Research limitations/implications

The study showed that trust and job satisfaction are important triggers of DL. Furthermore, results are interesting because literature so far has shown an insignificant relationship between satisfaction and performance. Here, the author establishes that the satisfaction–performance relationship is mediated by DL. The findings should motivate health care organizations to introduce structures and educate formal leaders so that DL can be enabled.

Originality/value

This should be the first study that relates trust and DL in an empirical manner. As grounded in the OCB literature, results also showed the significance of job satisfaction as a mediator variable.

Comparing trust levels of male and female managers: measurement invariance of the behavioural trust inventory

Despite the widely acknowledged need for validated trust measurement instruments and the legal obligation to ensure that psychometric tests are unbiased towards different groups in South Africa, no attempt has ever been made to address the aim of this study, which is to investigate the measurement invariance of the Behavioural Trust Inventory for managers of different genders. A cross-sectional survey with a convenience sample ( N = 539) was used. The Behavioural Trust Inventory and a biographical questionnaire were administered. The results showed that a two-factor model (consisting of reliance and disclosure) fitted the data best. Measurement invariance by gender was computed with the establishment of subsequent invariance constraints in the model parameters across groups. Configural, metric, and partial scalar invariances of the two-factor model of the Behavioural Trust Inventory were confirmed across male and female managers. One item that measures one’s willingness to share personal beliefs with a leader demonstrated a lack of scalar invariance for the female group; results for this item should therefore be treated with caution. Finally, latent factor mean analyses revealed no significant differences between male and female managers on the trust scales.

Dimensionality of trust: An analysis of the relations between propensity, trustworthiness and trust

Orientation: Research concerning trust relationships on the interpersonal level, particularly when studied in dyadic relationships from the follower’s point of view, is relatively scarce. Only a few researchers have attempted to link multiple dimensions of trust in the same study.Research purpose: This study examined the dynamic interplay between trust propensity, trustworthiness beliefs and the decision to trust, as perceived within dyadic workplace relationships. Motivation for the study: No studies, as far as the authors are aware, have ever attempted to use a combination of Mayer and Davis’s well-known assessment of trustworthiness and Gillespie’s measure of behavioural trust within the same study. By including measures of main antecedents and the actual decision to trust in the same study, the multidimensionality of trust can be established more concretely.Research approach, design and method: A cross-sectional survey design with a convenience sample (N = 539) was used. The Behavioural Trust Inventory and the Organisational Trust Instrument were administered.Main findings: Results confirmed the distinctness of propensity, trustworthiness and trust as separate main constructs. Trust was strongly associated with trustworthiness beliefs. Trustworthiness beliefs fully mediated the relationship between propensity and trust. The observed relations between propensity and trustworthiness suggest that individuals with a natural predisposition to trust others will be more inclined to perceive a specific trust referent as trustworthy.Practical/managerial implications: Leaders should realise that their attitudes and behaviour have a decisive impact on trust formation processes: if they are being perceived as trustworthy, followers will be likely to respond by engaging in trusting behaviours towards them. Tools to assess followers’ perceptions of the trustworthiness of the leader may provide useful feedback that can guide leaders.Contribution/value-add: This study contributes to scientific knowledge regarding the influence of propensity to trust and trustworthiness on trust of leaders.

Antecedents of Trust across Foci: A Comparative Study of Turkey and China

Instead of importing Western models of intelpersonal trust, we adopted a qualitative approach to understand trust relationships from indigenous cultures' perspectives. We examined trust relationships directed at diilerent foci in the organization (supervisor, peer, and subordinate) in two different countries, Turkey and China. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 Turkish and 30 Chinese employees working for a variety of large-scale organizations located in Istanbul, Turkey and Shenzhen, China. We report the content analysis of trust-building critical incidents narrated by the respondents. While the general antecedents of Ability, Benevolence, and Integrity were found to exist in both countries. Benevolence, with its culture-specific manifestations, played a very important role in trust-building across multiple foci in both countries. We also found that trust relationships in these two contexts tended to go beyond the professional domain, and to involve sharing of personal time, information, and space. Drawing on this evidence, we propose a trust-building process that is more affective in nature and which straddles both work and non-work domains.

Toward a Geocentric Framework of Trust: An Application to Organizational Trust

Integrating the typologies of trust dimensions and trust ideal-types with the new typologies of trust forms and trust bases, I propose a geocentric framework of trust in general and of organizational trust in particular. The typology of trust forms is built on the dimension of spatial strength to address the content of trust building from weak trust to strong trust and on the dimension of temporal stage to address the process of trust building from initial trust to mature trust. The typology of trust bases is built on the dimension of trust sources to address the bases of trust building from depersonalized sources to personalized sources and on the dimension of trust domains to address the bases of trust building from dyad domains to network domains. Together with its three pillars (trust-building mechanisms, leadership and trust-as-choice), the central theme of trust building connects all four trust typologies toward a geocentric framework that integrates and transcends the cultural values of the East and the West. This framework bears a special implication for theorizing about transaction cost and transaction value as a duality for interorganizational alliance.

Factor analysis of global trends in twenty‐first century leadership

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine whether the nature of leadership in the early years of the twenty‐first century as conceptualized in the research literature is valid among real organizational leaders across four global regions.

Design/methodology/approach

A literature review of recent scholarly articles suggested that today's leadership best practices can be sorted into six categories, or zones: Reflection, Society, Diversity, Ingenuity, People, and Business. These six zones became topics for focus groups of organizational leaders that tentatively supported the six‐zone structure and provided qualitative data used to create a 42‐item measure, the AchieveGlobal Leadership Scale (AGLS). The AGLS was then employed to examine the degree to which 899 leaders in Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the USA felt that each zone was important in meeting their organizational challenges.

Findings

The data from the 42 items were analyzed using a confirmatory factor analysis, which suggested that the six zones all triangulated on and comprised the larger construct, Leadership in the twenty‐first century. Regional differences emerged in the importance that leaders attributed to the zones, in the degree to which leaders effectively demonstrated the zones, and in the order in which leaders ranked their organizations' top business challenges.

Originality/value

The six‐zone model of leadership and its differences by geographic region hold potential to help leaders examine and improve their own leadership abilities.

Measurement equivalence/invariance of the abusive supervision measure across workers from Taiwan and the United States

Growing international research interest in negative-leadership behaviors prompts the need to examine whether measures of ineffective leadership developed in the United States are equivalent across countries outside the United States. B. J. Tepper's (2000) abusive supervision measure has been used widely inside and outside the United States and merits research attention on its construct equivalence across different cultural settings. The authors conducted a series of multigroup confirmatory factor analyses to investigate the measurement equivalence of this measure across Taiwan (N = 256) and the United States (N = 389). Configural invariance was established, suggesting that both U.S. and Taiwanese samples perceive abusive supervision as a single-factor concept. Furthermore, the establishment of partial metric invariance and partial scalar invariance suggests that the abusive supervision measure is applicable to crosscultural comparisons in latent means, construct variance, construct covariances, and unstandardized path coefficients with the caution that workers from different cultures calibrate their responses differently when answering some items.