An empirical investigation of swift trust in humanitarian logistics operations

Abstract

Purpose Trust is essential for any team working together. In humanitarian logistics operations, relief organizations often have to work collaboratively in hastily formed networks. Trust in such a context, termed as “swift trust” in the literature, is an important but less explored topic. The purpose of this paper is to empirically explore the antecedents of swift trust as well as its impact on the coordination among the humanitarian workers. Design/methodology/approach The authors choose the humanitarian workers in Southeast Asia as the research sample. An exploratory survey study is conducted in three Southeast Asian countries, namely, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines, with 89 usable responses. Findings The empirical results have shown support for most hypotheses. Third-party certification, competency, similarity in procedure standards and organizational values, can all generate swift trust. Moreover, swift trust can lead to greater openness in information sharing for coordination, though not to active assistance. Both coordination activities would lead to greater coordination effectiveness. Research limitations/implications Future studies could examine the four antecedent conditions for swift trust with better proxies. The connection between swift trust and coordination effectiveness can be explored in depth. Practical implications NGOs and governments could use these means effectively to build swift trust among the humanitarian players. For example, organizing field-oriented training activities would be beneficial for humanitarian workers in both network building and enhancing personal competency. Originality/value The findings point to the importance of swift trust in humanitarian operations and identify several means to enhance this trust. It has filled a research gap on the empirical investigation of the antecedents and impact of swift trust on inter-organizational coordination in humanitarian logistics operations.

Coopetition in temporary contexts: examining swift trust and swift distrust in humanitarian operations

“…Our study offers a new perspective in how such relationships may be formed. Whilst the utility of swift trust in humanitarian relief organisations is widely acknowledged (Tatham and Kovács, 2010, Dubey et al, 2018, Lu et al, 2018, Dubey et al, 2019a, Dubey et al, 2019b, how swift distrust may help in forming workable relationships with organisations that are distrusted has not been examined in any detail in studies on humanitarian operations. We illustrate how the presence of swift trust and swift distrust enables a better utilisation of scarce resources to achieve overarching humanitarian aims.…”

“…We suggest that in complex interorganisational coopetitive relationships, organisations can simultaneously navigate three routes to trust (peripheral, Secondly, we explore how swift distrust can help to explain approaches to coopetition in humanitarian operations by showing how swift distrust can aid in managing uncertainty. Prior studies on humanitarian operations have examined the concept of swift trust (Tatham and Kovács, 2010, Lu et al, 2018, Dubey et al, 2019a), yet theory focused explanations that consider swift distrust are under developed. Our attempt to begin to explain the role of swift distrust among humanitarian actors makes an important contribution to this literature.…”

“…Because swift trust relies on category driven information, Meyerson et al (1996) also refer to the concept of swift distrust, based on suspicion and mistrust arising from this category driven information, which can occur as rapidly as swift trust. Studies on humanitarian operations have examined the concept of swift trust (Tatham and Kovács, 2010, Lu et al, 2018, Dubey et al, 2019a, Dubey et al, 2019b), yet to date there has been limited research that considers swift distrust.…”

“…For swift trust to develop, the behavioural expectations of the group of actors is defined in terms of tasks and specialties rather than personalities (Meyerson et al, 1996) Researchers have utilised the notion of swift trust when examining humanitarian relief operations (for a summary of these works see e.g. Lu et al, 2018). Studies show how the rapid formulation of trusting relationships increases the speed at which actors start sharing information and hence reduces uncertainty (Lu et al, 2018, Dubey et al, 2019a, enhances humanitarian supply chain visibility and improves the level of coordination (Dubey et al, 2018).…”

Horizontal Coordination of I-LNGOs in the Humanitarian Supply Chain: An Evolutionary Game Approach

“…Generally, INGOs have better relief materials, professionalized capacity, and more experience in disaster relief than LNGOs because of their long history [53]. In addition, fully matured INGOs are more likely to have standardized management than LNGOs, so the quality of their services is guaranteed [54], whereas LNGOs tend to have closer ties with affected areas than INGOs [55]. There is no culture barrier when communicating with local communities and institutions for LNGOs.…”