Trust in managers: a study of why Swedish subordinates trust their managers

Why European Subordinates Trust their Managers

“…Dirks and Ferrin (2002) also emphasize the effect of the hierarchical distance. Andersen (2005) has found that trust in managers is significantly higher for those subordinates with closer proximity to the manager. It is worthwhile, then, to explore this relationship with data from a Slovenian sample, as neither theoretical arguments nor empirical studies indicate that sociocultural factors influence this relationship.…”

“…Dirks and Ferrin (2002, p. 614) claim that individuals observe leaders' actions and draw inferences about the nature of the relationship with the leaders or the character of the leader, or both. The analyses performed by Andersen (2005) have indicated that managers' actions as perceived by the subordinates create trust. One purpose of the present study is to explore the validity of this explanation in Slovenia.…”

“…Two specific problems addressed here are (1) whether these conclusions on trust in managers based on a Swedish study are valid for Slovenian managers, and (2) whether aspects of trust are dependent on societal characteristics. Andersen (2005) has found that Swedish managers enjoyed different degrees of trust from their subordinates. It was imperative, then, to establish whether or not this is the case for managers in Slovenia.…”

“…With this consideration in mind, this study concentrates on subordinates' trust in managers and asks whether subordinatemanager relationships vary with societal and national characteristics. In order to address this question, this study has sought to compare the data from a Swedish study (Andersen, 2005) with data from another country, and preferably one with markedly different socio-cultural characteristics for testing the robustness of the conclusions. Data from a Slovenian organization, therefore, appeared to be apposite for this comparative study.…”

“…This result is in line with data from Hofstede and Hofstede (2004), who also reported that the power distance is higher in Slovenia than in Sweden. The purpose of testing the third hypothesis is to find out whether the finding of Andersen (2005) that trust in managers differs according to the subordinates' hierarchical level is independent of societal factors.…”