Trust in leadership in the international context of enterprise organizational culture. Theoretical and empirical analysis

Electronic version of the publication available under CC BY-SA 4.0 license after 12 months from the date of release: April 2024

The dynamics and anxiety of contemporary world make trust the only constant, 1 which is one of the key resources necessary for the harmonious functioning of societies. Trust builds, integrates, increases stability and facilitates human action and cooperation. Trust is a sine qua non for the existence of leadership, which provides hope, inspiration, motivation, passion and sets an example for others to make positive changes in the world. Leaders should play the role of guarantor of trust. The common feature of good leadership is the ability to trust the right people, which can be one of the most important elements in building an organization’s success as a whole on organizational level. If they want to integrate the hearts and minds of their followers, to be the impetus for their transformation, they must show, build, maintain and develop mutual trust throughout the organization.

Most of the existing body of research is located at the micro-level, particularly in the category of interpersonal sources of trust, where attention is paid to the relational foundations of trust. Adopting a broader definition of an organization as an institution, which has its “own reality,” while process and practices not only “exist” but also “happen,” means that leaders and employees actively participate in “institution’s own reality and processivity.” This perspective makes it clear that interactional and institutional sources of trust coexist in reality and separating them would be artificial.

Institution-based trust is built within specific relationships among actors who are positioned in the context in which they operate. The imperative of contextualizing trust can be designated as a research gap especially in the context of entrepreneurship, where the receiver of trust may be teams located in various departments at the organizational level, given the growing importance of teamwork and mutual trust of individuals working together as a part of a team. This implies the relevance and legitimacy of addressing the topic of this monograph.

An analysis of literature shows that an interesting and engaging area of research, which is the identification of values that constitute organizational culture of trust, shaped by enterprise leaders. This conceptualization is not only at the relational level but at the level of the entire organization. Furthermore, it is worthwhile to add to the knowledge by indicating the impact of mutual trust of sales and profits in the company, in conjunction with the management style of company leaders.

The purpose of this research is to develop the concept of trust-building at the institutional level of organizations, in particular enterprises operating within specific contexts, aiming at enhancing competitiveness and improving the efficiency of their operations. This goal is achieved through following tasks:

Outlining the origins of the most primary dimensions and pillars associated with the leadership process and the exercise of power in the context of trust.

Conducting a critical analysis of the literature on leadership, and formulating a definition of a business leader.

Identifying and characterizing selected paradigms, models, and styles of management and leadership.

Identifying and discussing the “Pentagram of megatrends and trends in the external environment of enterprises, shaping the importance of the global trust ecosystem” as an external context relevant to the operation of enterprises implementing international expansion.

Presenting the evolution of views regarding the definition of organizational culture and broader understanding of its significance.

Conducting a critical analysis of the diversity in the understanding of trust in the literature with the development of a “Catalog of values constituting trust on institutional level in organizational culture of enterprises.”

Characterizing the context of low generalized social trust in Poland and indicating the definition of a startup.

Conducting an empirical study among technology startups pursuing foreign expansion.

Drawing on the published literature on the topic, previous observations of the author’s own, which resulted from the author’s collaboration with leaders, experts and employees of companies in the market, and bearing in mind the qualitative research method adopted, which allows for the emergence of hypotheses during the research, the following main hypothesis was formulated: “Trust, and in particular a value-based organizational culture of trust, hold significant importance for leaders of technology companies.” In addition, two auxiliary working research hypotheses were formulated, leading to the assumption that: “There is a hierarchy of values that constitutes the organizational culture of trust among teams of employees, especially within the enterprise,” and “Leaders who use less effective management styles increase sales and profits, provided there is mutual trust between leaders and employees at the same time.”

On the basis of current knowledge, it can be summarized that the MITrust concept proposed in this monograph fits into the prevailing notion of a universal trust process in management science. In this process, various sources of trust coexist, and combine in different proportions. their includes the “individual propensity to trust (self-trust),” as well as other characteristics – values, motivations and behaviors. These factors, including the very nature of the relationship between the giver and receiver of trust, and the situational conditions (institutions, culture, role, reputation) in which the specific decisions (trust bets) are made, all contribute to the trust-building process. Also, paying attention to the level of trust analysis, taking into account multi-level and inter-level studies (between teams and across different organizational levels) while capturing the symmetry and reciprocity of trust is a significant element for advancing the understanding of trust-building in organizational life. The phenomenon of the “two-faced leader syndrome” has been identified, which involves an employee’s perception of the leader’s image as an ambiguous and unethical “manipulator” due to the leader’s application of too many different management styles. The text also presents selected reflections on trust and leadership from a transdisciplinary perspective, i.e. from the point of view not only of management sciences but also economics, sociology, philosophy, psychology, history and biology, with a transfer to the world of business.

This monograph makes several significant contributions to the literature. Based on the author’s theoretical and empirical research, it emphasizes the importance of trust, considered in the specific context of technological start-ups in an international context. Theoretical knowledge is enriched by embedding trust within identified, specific and unique contexts–both external (by identifying megatrends, trends and characteristics of the external environment) and internal (by exploring mechanisms and patterns that constitute the organizational culture of trust), which should contribute to filling the contextual research gap. Especially locating the research in the hitherto underrepresented international conditions, supported by the Polish context, which may be a fruitful research area for the subject of trust, directly addressing a specific research gap. The study fills theoretical gaps and enriches theoretical knowledge by providing science in the field of trust in leadership in enterprises from the point of view of shaping organizational culture during their expansion. Supported by empirical research, this work implied the need to formulate and add our own definition of trust, leader, leadership and organizational culture, what among others, made possible to build a new Model of Institutional Trust in conducted area.

An original concept of the MITrust (Model of Institutional Trust), based on a process approach, with a more balanced approach was constructed and proposed, emphasizes the institutional dimension of the forms and manifestations of trust. The content and flow, at each stage, shapes the relationship and affects not only individuals but also teams in a chosen context. In this type of approach, trust emerges as a combination of various sources, which arise not only from prior interactions among the actors who have grounds for trust or based on their belonging to a certain organization in which they cooperate but also because of both of the above reasons at the same time. The hierarchy of the identified elements constituting the organizational culture of trust was established: Integrity, Competence, Communication, Cooperation and Reliability–five key values responsible for the organizational culture of trust within the company. The dissertation makes a contribution by diagnosing trust through qualitative methods, allowing for its deeper understanding, supplementing knowledge from interviews and organizing information acquired about trust. The dissertation identifies, characterizes and sums up current megatrends and market trends, providing practical knowledge for leaders, shaping the reality of the technology sector in the international context and formulates the directions of development in the conditions of their globalization. Specific factors for the presence of social trust in Poland are defined, which offers practical knowledge, because leaders are often unaware of why certain actions and mechanisms occur. The study highlights the importance of practical meaning and logical consistency of mutual trust in the use of different leadership styles, even ineffective ones, for the formation of the level of sales and profits. Especially when there is a lack of research that addresses questions about reciprocity and symmetry of trust. These issues are put in a context which is related to the improvement of the organizational efficiency and the successful performance, thereby providing practical knowledge useful for making decisions by company leaders, consultants and experts operating on the market. Lastly, this work contributes to practical knowledge by formulating development directions, which may be used in university education. It identifies the need to strengthen trust-building processes in enterprises, using tools supporting them, such as management and leadership styles. This guidance on personnel management and leadership, aimed at building trust within the organization at both team and institutional levels.