| Developing trust within an organizational setting is a complex and daunting task. Leaders must not only model behavior exemplifying trustworthiness, but they must also design an environment that fosters and supports trust in the organization. The purpose of this study was to explore contextual variables that may impact organizational trust: trust beyond the individual and interpersonal factors more extensively studied in previous research and to provide a systemic organizational framework as a methodology for better understanding organizational trust.; Survey data were gathered from 802 employees from one large, healthcare organization. Survey items included questions addressing the 7-S model of organizational alignment (Bradach, 1996) including (a) shared values, (b) strategy, (c) structure, (d) systems, (e) staffing, (f) skills, and (g) leadership style. Aggregate and sub-group analysis included administrative leader, physician leader, physician, and staff data. Findings from this study included the following: (1) there was no significant difference between organizational trust levels for individuals in leadership positions and individuals in non-management positions; however, there were significant differences between sub-groups (p < .001) primarily due to differences between the physician and the leadership population; (2) there was a significant relationship between contextual variables in the 7-S model, as well as a five factor model derived from a factor analysis of the survey items and overall level of organizational trust (p < .001); and (3) a composite index of the contextual variables in the five factors accounted for a significant portion of the variance in organizational trust level (57.8%, p < .001).; It was concluded from this study that overall trust in an organization is a distinct type of trust in the organization and differs from trust in one's supervisor, trust in one's coworkers, or one's trust in people in general. It was also concluded that level of organizational trust varies by position, especially for the physician population. Given that specific organizational, contextual variables were found to be highly related to trust in the organization, it was concluded that the five factors of participative leadership, direction, people decisions, organizational support, and performance feedback and improvement opportunities are important for trust formation. Finally, it was noted that organizational trust is more than an assessment of any one dimension of trust and is likely a complex composite of individual, interpersonal, and organizational factors. |
