Showing items 1 - 4 of 4

Your selections:

Stakeholder relationship management and the perception of trust: a case study of a salient stakeholder

  • Authors: Chambers, Craig Brian
  • Date: 2022-06
  • Subjects: Stakeholder management South Africa Sundays River (Eastern Cape) , Stakeholder theory , Trust , Industrial priorities , Social capital (Sociology)
  • Language: English
  • Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/419060 , vital:71612
  • Description: Trust is an essential aspect in developing meaningful relationships between firms and their stakeholders. Mayer, Davis and Schoorman (1995, p.709) define trust as “the willingness of a party to be vulnerable to the actions of another party based on the expectation that the other party will perform a particular action important to the trustor irrespective of the ability to monitor or control that other party”. This study took the form of an explanatory case study that focussed on an interaction between a firm and a salient stakeholder and attempted to explain how this interaction influenced the perceived trustworthiness of the firm in stakeholders that were observing the interaction. The study attempted to add to the work of Crane (2020), whose research had focussed on stakeholder connectedness, and specifically how this could be utilized by firms interacting with stakeholders to engender trust in a wider group of stakeholders. The research aimed to evaluate how the Sterile Insect Release programme, operating by the firm in the Sunday’s River Valley, was given a second chance through engagement with a salient stakeholder and how the interaction was observed by a wider group of stakeholders leading to perceived stakeholder trustworthiness and social capital. The study had five objectives, namely to; (1) analyse how a firm’s ability, benevolence, and integrity enables (or does not engender) the development of the firm’s trustworthiness amongst its stakeholders; (2) analyse how the firm’s engagement with a salient stakeholder enables (or does not engender) increased levels of trustworthiness in the firm by the stakeholders that are observing its interaction with a salient stakeholder; (3) analyse the benefits of social capital gained through increased levels of stakeholder trust; (4) identify good practice guidelines for firm engagement with salient stakeholders to ensure the correct cues are portrayed to observing stakeholders for the development of the trustworthiness of the firm; and (5) make recommendations related to management practices that will support the development of trust. The research adopted a qualitative approach and data were collected through semi-structured interviews with three groups of stakeholders that were present at the meeting. A review of the literature was undertaken to identify various propositions for the research and from which a theory-driven coding memo was developed. The derived propositions were as follows: (1) observing a firm’s engagement with a single salient stakeholder will provide cues to observing stakeholders about the trustworthiness of the firm, and (2) perceptions of a firm’s trustworthiness will result in increased social capital between the firm and its stakeholders. The first proposition was divided into three sub-propositions for the study which stated; (a) observing a firm’s engagement with a single salient stakeholder will provide cues to observing stakeholders about the ability of the firm; (b) observing a firm’s engagement with a single salient stakeholder will provide cues to observing stakeholders about the benevolence of the firm; and (c) observing a firm’s engagement with a single salient stakeholder will provide cues to observing stakeholders about the integrity of the firm. From the literature analysis, various themes were identified which include, observed interactions, ability, benevolence, integrity, trustworthiness, and increased social capital. The research findings confirmed the propositions as being relevant to the case study. The findings confirmed that ability, benevolence, and integrity are key attributes in portraying trustworthiness when interacting with a salient stakeholder. All three attributes were noted by the interviewees as being important to observing stakeholders in the development of trust in a firm, although ability and integrity were found to be the dominant attributes in this case study. The findings did present some evidence that an increased level of perceived trustworthiness in the firm did positively influence the levels of social capital, however, this was not a common theme among all the interviewees. In the light of these findings, it is recommended that firms utilize stakeholder models to identify salient stakeholders that are influential within the markets in which they operate. The firm should actively pursue a strong relationship with these stakeholders, and further attempt to generate opportunities to interact with these stakeholders in a public forum where stakeholder connectedness could be utilized to develop perceived trust in the wider group of stakeholders. The firm should focus on open, honest, and transparent communication which are key aspects for portraying the attributes of ability, benevolence, and integrity. The study addresses a gap in the trust literature at a stakeholder level and therefore has contributed to the trust literature by addressing how the connectedness between stakeholders can lead to trust in a wider group of stakeholders by increasing efficiency during these interactions and utilizing situational circumstances to build social capital. , Thesis (MBA) -- Faculty of Commerce, Rhodes Business School, 2023
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2022-06

Information security and the dark side of trust

Trust building strategies to enhance collective bargaining processes in organisations

  • Authors: Ngalo, Osmond Tolo
  • Date: 2011
  • Subjects: Trust , Collective bargaining
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DTech
  • Identifier: vital:9398 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1312 , Trust , Collective bargaining
  • Description: The main research problem in this study was to identify what trust-building strategies can be utilised by organisations to enhance collective bargaining processes. To achieve this objective a theoretical Institutional Arrangements-Based Model of trust-building was conceptualised, developed and presented in Chapter 5. The presentation of this model was the culmination of the research design phases outlined below: -The first phase consisted of a literature survey undertaken to discover the nature and dynamics of the concept "trust". -The second phase consisted of surveying the literature attempting to understand the nature of the collective bargaining process, its elements and types and the environmental factors that tend to impinge on it. -The final phase of the literature survey focused on various trust-building strategies, theories and models that can be utilised by organisations to ii enhance collective bargaining processes. Trust is generally acknowledged as a necessary requirement for effective and successful workplace relationships. Because of this factor it is crucial that South African employer-employee relationships are improved in a conscious and sustainable way in order for our businesses to remain competitive in the face of global competition. With this reality in mind there is still much in the South African labour relations environment that fosters conflict. One of the primary factors that impinge on trust in employer-employee relations in South Africa is the previous government‘s divisive and racist apartheid policies. These policies have resulted in serious structural imbalances in the economy, the skewed distribution of wealth and the general scarcity of resources to address these attendant challenges. Finnemore and van Rensburg (2002, p. 36) surveys the current labour relations scenario and comments about the extent to which it has been severely affected by apartheid. Some of its appalling outcomes are: racial divisions between skilled and unskilled workers, apartheid wage gaps, poorly educated workers, dictatorial management styles and a lack of protection for the most vulnerable workers. As revealed in this research study there are still widely divergent views at the workplace regarding the nature and levels of trust that are prevalent. The overwhelming view, however, is that there is, generally, a lack of trust between managerial and employee collective bargaining teams. This lack of trust which is evident between employer and employee parties will tend to result in collective bargaining processes being embarked upon in a climate imbued with the negative spirit of distrust. The recommended Institutional Arrangements-Based Model of trust-building advocates for a process of trust-building prior to any collective bargaining initiatives. This process, as depicted in the elements of the recommended model, needs to begin with phases which will focus on frame-alignment and the identification of all sources of distrust between the parties. These prescribed sessions seek to culminate in a common understanding, between the contesting parties, of their real divergent issues and concerns as well as their existing commonalities. The next phases of the recommended model entail the parties, jointly, developing proposals and policies that in the short and long term will aim at the resolution of the identified sources of distrust and thereby reduce the psychological distance between them. The final phase of the model entails the implementation of joint problem–solving resolutions and the development of appropriate policies i.e. institutional arrangements, to deal with all conflict-prone areas of the business operations. Simultaneously, there needs to be continuous evaluation and monitoring of organisational trust and the "agreed to" trust-building strategies to ensure that distrust is reduced or eliminated in the long term, allowing the organisation and the individual employees to perform at their optimum in order to achieve their common goals.
  • Full Text:
  • Date Issued: 2011

The relationship between work place well-being, psychological capital and work place trust

  • Authors: Schoeman, Johannes Dames
  • Subjects: Well-being , Trust , Work -- Psychological aspects , Job satisfaction
  • Language: English
  • Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
  • Identifier: vital:9406 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1013044
  • Description: A study of the available literature on Workplace Well-being, Positive Organisational Capital and Workplace Trust revealed that enormous potential existed for further research. This is a relatively new field with limited literature and research evidence available. It became very clear from the beginning that the relationships between these constructs could successfully be researched. It was therefore decided to embark on an academic research journey in order to contribute to the existing knowledge available on these constructs within the South African business scenario. This quantitative research was used to obtain more clarity about the relationships between the three constructs and to gather the responses from the research population. This research group consisted of 228 managers from the manufacturing operation of a motor vehicle production company and 224 managers from their National Dealership network. The research sample consisted of 452 managers. Three questionnaires were integrated to develop the composite Workplace Wellbeing Questionnaire and consisted of i) Workplace Well-being questionnaire developed by Parker and Hyett (2011), ii) PSYCAP Questionnaire developed by Luthans, Youssef and Avolio (2007), and iii) Workplace Trust Survey developed by Ferres (2001). The managers (n = 452) responded to a 91–item electronic questionnaire. Seven research questions were formulated and covered areas such as: The content, validity and portability of the measuring instruments; The configuration of the various constructs; Relationships between some of the variables; The effect of demographical data on the research variables and; The building of a research model. The content and the structure of the measuring instruments were assessed by means of Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Exploratory Factor Analyses (EFA). These assessments showed that the original measuring instruments are not portable to a culture which is different to the one where they were originally developed. The relationships between the variables were determined by: Pearson product moment correlation; Multiple Regression co-efficient; ANOVA and Cohen’s d Test. The relationship between aspects of Workplace Well-being (Job satisfaction) and trust is a significant finding; so are some aspects of PSYCAP (sense of achievement and optimism) and Trust and Well-being. Trust has shown a definite relationship with Work- place well-being. A structural equation model was built to test the relationships between the elements of Workplace Well-being, PSYCAP and Workplace Trust. No satisfactory fit of the model on the data was obtained, although strong correlations between some of the variables existed. The significance of the findings of this study and the contribution that it makes to the existing theory is seen in the importance of the portability of measuring instruments. Recommendations in this regard have been made in Chapter 5. Various findings have also highlighted the relationships between Workplace Well-being, PSYCAP and Work-place Trust. The importance of future research topics has been recommended and a proposal has been made to consider a longitudinal well-being research study.
  • Full Text:
  • 1
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy
  • Copyright
  • Contact