How do Sector Level Factors Influence Trust Violations in Not-for-Profit Organizations? A Multilevel Model

Nicole Gillespie (), Mattia Anesa (), Morgana Lizzio-Wilson (), Cassandra Chapman (), Karen Healy () and Matthew Hornsey ()
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Nicole Gillespie: University of Queensland
Mattia Anesa: University of Sydney
Morgana Lizzio-Wilson: University of Exeter
Cassandra Chapman: University of Queensland
Karen Healy: University of Queensland
Matthew Hornsey: University of Queensland

Journal of Business Ethics, 2024, vol. 191, issue 2, No 10, 373-398

Abstract: Abstract The proliferation of violations within industry sectors (e.g., banking, doping in sport, abuse in religious organizations) highlights how trust violations can thrive in particular sectors. However, scant research examines how macro institutional factors influence micro level trustworthy conduct. To shed light on how sectoral features may influence trust violations in organizations, we adopt a multilevel perspective to investigate the perceived causes of trust violations within the not-for-profit (NFP) sector, a sector that has witnessed a number of high-profile trust breaches. Drawing on interviews with board members and senior executives of NFPs with cross-sectoral experience, we analyze the causes of trust violations to inductively develop a conceptual model of the multilevel factors contributing to trust violations in NFPs. Our model highlights how trust violations have their roots in sectoral-level factors, which trickle-down to influence the ethical infrastructure at the organizational-level, and in turn individual-level factors and violations. We identify how three NFP sectoral features influence trustworthy behavior: corporatization, resource scarcity, and assumed moral integrity. Our findings speak to the importance of looking beyond the organization to understand both the causes and prevention of trust violations and developing the concept of sector-level ethical infrastructure.

Keywords: Trust violations; Ethical infrastructure; Organizational trust; Not-for-profit; Non-profit governance; Moral integrity; Multilevel (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1007/s10551-023-05429-6

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