The researcher explored interpersonal trust (a construct from the fields of psychology
and sociometry) in the context of engineering work groups. The study explored the potential
antecedents of trust and the relationships among trust, creativity, communication, emotional
empathy and positive affect. The study attempts to argue that 1) trust is deeply involved in
the neurological development of humans from a very early age, 2) the level of trust is an
important factor in the development of a person's emotional experience, 3) an individual's
level of trust can improve with experience, 4) higher levels of trust can streamline task team
performance, especially when creativity and communication are important, and 5) in
industries that use task teams and that require innovation, high levels of interpersonal trust
can be a source of competitive advantage.
Analysis of the literature of social and industrial psychology leads to the hypothesis
that trust is positively and significantly correlated with creativity, communication,
emotional empathy and positive affect. Sociometric survey research of engineers (n=43)
employed at a medical device manufacturing company fails to show support for this
hypothesis. / Graduation date: 1998
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/34153 |
| Date | 13 March 1998 |
| Creators | Siacotos, Thomas John Charles |
| Contributors | Dunn, Kimberly |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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