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An Exploratory Study of Organizational Trust & Its Multiple Dimensions: A Case Study of General Motors

Over 1700 employees of the General Motors Corporation defined trust and described personal work experiences that affected their trust toward the organization. These employee comments were factor analyzed to determine the dimensions of organizational trust. An instrument was developed from employee comments to measure the level of trust in a GM location. With the level of trust quantified, the demographic effects on trust and the relationship between trust and management's communication effectiveness were investigated.
This approach provided new knowledge of trust in an industrial environment. Three dimensions of organizational trust were identified: Openness/Congruity, Shared Values, and Autonomy/Feedback. Age, length of service, and whether or not an employee had experienced a lay-off had significant effects on trust. A linear relationship was found between trust and employee perceptions of management's effectiveness in communicating. A conceptual model of organizational trust was developed using Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs as a framework.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:WKU/oai:digitalcommons.wku.edu:theses-3445
Date01 December 1985
CreatorsHart, Kerry
PublisherTopSCHOLAR®
Source SetsWestern Kentucky University Theses
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
SourceMasters Theses & Specialist Projects

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