The research aimed to investigate the influence of diversification on inter-personal trust, and how the perceptions of inter-personal trust affects work group performance in South African organisations. Experiments were used to determine the effects of demographic differences on inter-personal trust and to stimulate the perceptions certain demographic groups have regarding inter-personal trust. Data was collected from a representative sample using both in-depth interviews in conjunction with a standardised questionnaire. Research findings indicated that demographics still influence inter-personal trust in South African organisations, even 17 years after the demise of apartheid. It was evident that especially for white individual‟s race and culture differences influenced their perception of inter-personal trust. The study also determine that inter-personal trust has a significant role to play on the performance of work groups in South African organisations, and that the level of diversity correlates with the level of inter-personal trust. An unexpected result from the study was the influence that age-diversification had on inter-personal trust perceptions. It is evident that there are still lots of work to be done in South Africa, and that race continues to play a role in the country. A lot of responsibility lies with the organisations themselves and there are a number of solutions that they have at their disposal. The result of these solutions could be beneficial for these organisations and the country as a whole.Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Vertrauen wird vielfach als definitorischer Bestandteil virtueller Organisationsformen diskutiert. Dies begründet sich nicht zuletzt darin, dass dem Vertrauen intra- wie interorganisational die Funktion eines Koordinations- und Kontrollmechanismus zugesprochen werden kann. Dieses wird umso bedeutsamer, als dass die Arbeit in virtuellen Kooperationen durch Unvorhersehbarkeit und damit durch geringe Erwartungssicherheit gekennzeichnet ist. In Anlehnung an die von Luhmann (2000) angenommene Funktionalität von Vertrauen als Mechanismus zur Reduktion sozial verursachter Komplexität, kann Vertrauen als wesentlich für die Bewältigung des enormen Komplexitätsniveaus und den daraus folgenden erheblichen Flexibilitätsanforderungen an die Mitarbeiter auf beiden Seiten der Kooperation betrachtet werden.

L’assistance dans l’élaboration d’un acte juridique est une technique ancienne à laquelle le législateur continue aujourd’hui d’avoir recours. Pourtant, elle semble susciter peu d’intérêt, de sorte que la légimité de son existence peut être mise en doute. L’objet de cette démonstration est donc de comprendre ce phénomène d’assistance afin de savoir s’il renvoie à une institution singulière et autonome. Apparaissant sous une double forme à l’occasion de la formation d’un acte juridique, l’assistance peut être tantôt “habilitante”, tantôt “facilitante”. Si ce dualisme est utile dans la détermination du régime, il est avant tout, sur le plan notionnel, source de confusion. Dans tous les cas, l’assistance affiche toutefois une unité substantielle. Caractérisée comme un “être avec” et un “agir avec”, l’assistance est une technique de protection intermédiaire refusant toute substitution qui consiste pour l’assistant à être aux côtés de l’assisté afin de l’aider à exprimer une volonté en conformité avec ses intérêts. Ce phénomène se doit par conséquent d’obéir à des règles clairement identifiées, ce qui n’est pas toujours le cas à ce jour. Tout en mettant en évidence le droit positif, cette étude se propose donc d’apporter certaines précisions dans le fonctionnement de l’assistance envisagé à la fois dans la seule relation établie entre les deux principaux protagonistes, mais aussi au-delà. Si l’assistance se déploie entre l’assisté et l’assistant, elle rayonne nécessairement sur l’acte juridique ainsi passé et sur des tiers à la relation d’assistance. / Assistance is a method that the legislator has had recourse to for long in the drafting of a legal transaction and it still does nowadays. However, it seems to arouse so few interest that the legitimacy of its existence may be doubted. The purpose of this demonstration therefore is to understand this practice and determine whether it can be considered as a singular and autonomous institution or not. Assistance can play two parts during the drafting of a legal transaction, sometimes as an “enabler”, sometimes as a “facilitator”. While this duality proves to be useful in the determination of the regime, it mostly brings a lexical confusion. In any case though, assistance conveys a substantial unity. Both defined as “being with” and “acting with”, assistance is an intermediary protection technique that excludes any kind of substitution and consists, for the designated assistant, in standing by the assisted to help him to state a will in accordance with his interests. As a consequence, it has to comply with clearly identified rules, which is, to date, not necessarily the case. Whilst presenting the positive law, this study aims at clarifying the functioning of assistance, both taken as the relationship established between the two main protagonists and beyond. Although assistance mainly concerns the assistant and the assisted, it inevitably has an impact on the legal transaction concluded thereby and the related third parties.

Vertrauen wird vielfach als definitorischer Bestandteil virtueller Organisationsformen diskutiert. Dies begründet sich nicht zuletzt darin, dass dem Vertrauen intra- wie interorganisational die Funktion eines Koordinations- und Kontrollmechanismus zugesprochen werden kann. Dieses wird umso bedeutsamer, als dass die Arbeit in virtuellen Kooperationen durch Unvorhersehbarkeit und damit durch geringe Erwartungssicherheit gekennzeichnet ist. In Anlehnung an die von Luhmann (2000) angenommene Funktionalität von Vertrauen als Mechanismus zur Reduktion sozial verursachter Komplexität, kann Vertrauen als wesentlich für die Bewältigung des enormen Komplexitätsniveaus und den daraus folgenden erheblichen Flexibilitätsanforderungen an die Mitarbeiter auf beiden Seiten der Kooperation betrachtet werden.

Digitaliseringen tar en allt större roll i det svenska samhället, vilket leder till att företag måste anpassa sig efter förändringarna som digitaliseringen innebär. Anpassningen görs eftersom att revisionsbranschen är en institution som strävar efter högt socialt kapital. Syftet med examensarbetet är att förklara hur digitaliseringen påverkar kundrelationen mellan revisorn och kunden inom revisionsbranschen, utifrån revisorns perspektiv. För att uppnå syftet tar uppsatsen sin utgångspunkt i det positivistiska synsättet och i en teoretisk referensram som ligger till grund för en utvecklad analysmodell. Den teoretiska referensramen visar på betydelsen av socialt kapital för att bygga upp meningsfulla värden och utveckla långsiktiga relationer. Empirin har samlats in genom en såväl kvantitativ som kvalitativ metod där revisorers åsikter kring hur digitaliseringen påverkar relationen i branschen ligger till grund för examensarbetets slutsatser. Resultatet från empirin har kodats och analyserats i flera analysmodeller. Bland annat ett hypotestest som visade på att tre av uppsatsens fyra hypoteser kunde verifieras. Examensarbetets diskussion och slutsats visar på flertalet intressanta resultat. Ett utmärkande resultat är att revisionsbranschen är en institution där arbetssättet utvecklats från att vara formellt till informellt. Anledningen till detta är att det finns en stark norm inom professionen som underbyggs av ett sådant arbetssätt som är djupt rotad i digitalisering. Examensarbetets resultat redogör även för att fysiska möten inte är lika självklara idag som tidigare. Dock går de inte att utesluta helt då de krävs för att bygga och underhålla en långsiktig relation. Resultatet visar även att det är viktigt att bemöta kunders förväntningar och reducera osäkerhet. En skillnad mellan kvinnor och män i valet av att gå på informella sammankomster med en kund har även uppmärksammats. Examensarbetet visar på ytterligare en skillnad, som är mellan yngre och äldre där yngre är mer positiv till digital kommunikation framför personlig kommunikation. Avslutningsvis bekräftar examensarbetet att digitaliseringen påverkar relationen mellan revisorn och kunden och att digitala relationer som utvecklas inom branschen är en institution. / Digitalization takes an increasing role in the Swedish society, which means that companies must adapt to the changes that digitalization leads to. The adjustments are made on the basis that the audit industry is an institution that strives for high social capital. The purpose of this study is to explain how digitalization affects the relationship between the auditor and the customer in the audit industry, based on the auditor's perspective. To achieve the study’s objective, it is based on a positivist approach and the theoretical framework is the foundation for the analytical model. It defined the importance of social capital to build meaningful values and develop long-term relationships. The data collection is based on both quantitative and qualitative methods, where the core is to investigate how digitization affects the relationship in the industry. The collected data has been coded and analyzed in several analysis models. For example, one test of hypothesis which showed that three of the study’s four hypotheses could be verified. The discussion and conclusion of the study showed multiple interesting results, where a distinguish result was that the audit profession in an institution and the working process has changed from being formal to be informal. The reason is that the norm within the profession is deeply rooted in digitalization. The study also concluded that meetings face-to-face are not as self-evident today as it was before the development of digitalization. However, face-to-face meetings cannot be eliminated as they are seen as necessary to develop a long and sustainable relationship and whereas digital tools of communications are seen as a complement. The results also suggests the importance to meet customer expectations and reducing uncertainty. The thesis also found a difference between women and men in the choice of attending to informal meetings. It was also recognized that younger has an increasing interest in digital communications, compare to older auditors. Finally the study confirms that digitalization affects the relationship between the auditor and the customer, and that digital relationships developed in the auditing industry are an institution.

This study investigated and distinguished between two different aspects of trust (i.e. inter-personal and inter-organisationl) in business relationships. Reviewing the extant literature, a model of business relationships was developed, bridging social exchange theory and transaction cost economics, in addition to using some ideas from the resource-based view. This model was built on an overall framework consisting of three main groups of business relationship characteristics, (1) attitudes (inter-personal and inter-organisational trust) (2) behaviours (commitment, information sharing and relationship-specific investments) and (3) outcomes (financial and non-economic (soft) performance). The overall framework suggested that the attitudinal characteristics affect behavioural characteristics, which consequently affect relationship outcomes. Furthermore, the role of the other party’s opportunistic behaviour as an antecedent of trust aspects was suggested in the model. In line with the overall framework, a basic model was developed with sixteen hypotheses. The model was extended considering dependence as a moderator, and suggesting two additional hypotheses.A questionnaire was designed to measure the characteristics in the model. Data collected from 331 informants (i.e. middle or senior managers knowledgeable about supplier relationships) was used to empirically test the model, using structural equation modeling. The analysis was performed testing the model fit and its underlying hypotheses, additionally using a control variable (the relationship length) and multiple-group analysis (controlling for the size of the company). Inter-personal trust and inter-organisational trust were found to be two distinct constructs (by means of implementing several techniques testing discriminant validity). The results supported the impact of inter-personal trust on inter-organisational trust, inter-personal trust impacting on commitment and information sharing while inter-organisational trust impacting on commitment, information sharing and relationship-specific investments (all in a positive way). The positive effect of behavioural characteristics on relationship outcomes was supported, commitment and relationship-specific investment influencing both financial and non-economic performance, while information sharing influencing non-economic performance. Relationship-specific investments impact positively on commitment, and financial performance impacts positively on non-economic performance. The moderating effects were supported; the positive effect of inter-organisational trust on relationship-specific investments and the positive effect of relationship-specific investments on commitment decrease as dependence increases. The negative effect of the other party’s opportunistic behaviour on trust dimensions was found, while its expected negative effect on relationship-specific investments was not supported in the whole sample. A mixture modeling approach was performed to explore this result. The negative effect was supported in a number of responses, as expected. However, surprisingly a positive effect was also found in a group of responses that were characterised by having relatively longer relationships with the supplier and observing a higher degree of opportunistic behaviour. Additionally relationship-specific investments had a stronger effect on its consequences within this group. Potential explanations for the findings with regard to this group were introduced. The research contributions and implications were also discussed.