Refuting the cliché of the distrustful manager

Sabine Hommelhoff and David Richter

European Management Journal, 2017, vol. 35, issue 2, 164-173

Abstract: Although trust is fundamental to social and organizational functioning, the media often portray managers as distrusting, suggesting that distrust of others is a typical personality variable of successful leaders. This study puts the cliché of the distrustful manager to the test. Both self-report data (N = 32,926) and behavioral data (N = 924) from the German Socio-Economic Panel refute this cliché. Analyses reveal that individuals in managerial positions neither show a lower level of trust before, nor a systematic reduction in trust after attaining such positions. Moreover, analyses demonstrate that managers are generally more trusting than non-managers. This selection effect implies that individuals who trust others are more successful in achieving managerial positions than their less trusting counterparts.

Keywords: Management; Trust; Distrust; Trust game; Panel data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Working Paper: Refuting the Cliché of the Distrustful Manager (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:eurman:v:35:y:2017:i:2:p:164-173

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DOI: 10.1016/j.emj.2016.06.007

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