Abstrakt: |
While being a disruptive phenomenon in organizations, distrust has attracted little research attention and primarily focused on relationships between equals. The present research instead focuses on distrust between subordinates and supervisors. We argue that the strategies suggested as potential responses to distrust, such as revenge, negative reciprocity, and avoidance, are improbable in hierarchical relationships. We aim to create a deeper theoretical understanding of this phenomenon using a mixed-method approach. Our first study draws on an extreme case sample of in-depth interviews with 14 subordinates reporting fully developed distrust towards their supervisors. Analytical induction suggests that supervisory behaviors eliciting distrust involve threat to subordinates' perception of personal control. Accordingly, subordinates' responses to distrust-inducing behaviors of supervisors aim to restore, regain, and protect personal control resources. Our second study was a multistage lab experiment to test the generated predictions. Specifically, we hypothesize and show that distrust undermines personal control over important tasks as reflected by perceived threat. Perceived threat prompts subordinates to increase their work effort, which in turn reduces their threat perceptions. The compensatory nature of responses to distrust uncovered in this research significantly advances scholarly understanding of distrust in hierarchical relationships. We point towards promising routes for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |