A multilevel perspective of interpersonal trust: Individual,dyadic, and cross‐level predictors of performance |
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| Authors: | Naina Gupta Jeffrey M Pollack Lei Lai |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University, SingaporeThe order of authorship for the first two authors is alphabetical reflecting equal contribution from both authors.;2. Poole College of Management, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S.A.;3. Freeman School of Business, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A. |
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| Abstract: | While it is generally known that interpersonal trust facilitates individual functioning, few studies have examined the role of specific features of the interpersonal trust network — individual, dyadic, third‐party, and network‐level features — on individual performance. We adopt a multilevel perspective of interpersonal trust to examine how individuals' performance is not only predicted by their individual‐level centrality in the interpersonal trust network but also moderated, at the network level, by the overall centralized nature of that network. Further, we examine whether mutual trust relationships at the dyadic level, as well as shared trust ties to common third parties, can predict individuals' performance. We test our hypotheses with 206 members in 15 professional networking groups and find that interpersonal trust operates at multiple levels to predict members' performance in terms of generating income from business referrals. These findings provide theoretical and practical implications on how interpersonal trust relationships operate and can be managed for performance gains. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
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| Keywords: | interpersonal trust centrality centralization structural equivalence individual performance professional networking groups multilevel |
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