PSYCHOLOGY MASTER'S THESIS ABSTRACT

Paul Schindler

Industrial/Organizational
August 1990

The Measurement of Dyadic Trust in Organizations and Its Relation to Job Satisfaction
 

    The importance of each of five underlying interpersonal trust components (competence, consistency, integrity, loyalty and openness) as they affect trust in supervisors, subordinates and peers was examined in this study.  The correlation between interpersonal trust and job satisfaction was also explored.
    Subjects included 66 supervisors and executives.  Each made trust decisions about hypothetical and actual co-workers and indicated levels of job satisfaction.  While the importance of each of the trust components differed within each dyad, the order of importance remained the same: integrity > competence > loyalty > consistency > openness.  Among dyads, no differences were found for the importance of integrity, competence or loyalty while differences were indicated for consistency and openness.  Interpersonal trust was positively correlated with job satisfaction.
    This research suggests that interpersonal trust is a fairly consistent construct across hierarchical levels.  Remedying trust component deficiencies can increase the potential for bettering employee quality of work life.

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