监控机制对项目合作伙伴中控制方信任的影响:基于主动信任的视角

The impact of monitoring mechanism on the trust of project partner:Views form the active trust of controller

尽管信任和控制被视为是影响组织成功合作的两大关键因素,但两者之间的关系仍然处于争论之中。本文将组织层面的监控机制和个人层面的信任倾向视为是项目合作伙伴中控制方组织建立主动信任的前因变量,并通过问卷搜集建筑企业的数据进行了实证研究。研究结果表明监控机制和信任倾向会分别正向影响对控制方组织的主动信任,但信任倾向对监控机制和信任之间的关系有弱化调节作用。这一视角有利于从新的角度理解信任与控制之间的权变关系。根据研究结论,从提升项目伙伴组织主动信任的角度提出了管理策略。

Understanding how to generate trust between boundary spanners from different project partner organizations is critical for managers because trust can directly influence the cooperative behavior of their counterparts. Although the importance of monitoring mechanism is widely accepted, opinions differ in regard to the complex relationship between trust and monitoring mechanisms. We attempt to provide a new perspective on the relationship between trust and monitoring mechanisms by considering the relationships between monitoring mechanisms, the propensity to trust, cognition-based trust, and affect-based trust. A total of 215 Survey data were collected form engineering project partners. The results show that trust is positively related to monitoring mechanisms and disposition to trust. Additionally, the propensity to trust moderates the relationships that monitoring mechanism has with cognition-based trust and affect-based trust respectively. The relationship is more positive when propensity to trust is lower, rather than higher. While the fact that the propensity to trust is a consistent predictor of perceived trust that adds to the evidence of its important role in trust formation, we also show that the propensity to trust and monitoring mechanism are substitutes for promoting trust. This finding sheds light on the existing inconsistent findings on the relationship between trust and control. Specifically, it is possible that the different levels of the propensity to trust among individuals may account for different results in studies on the relationship between trust and control. For instance, the empirical findings that the relationship between trust and formal control can be positive or negative. The relationships are partly attributable to different levels of the propensity to trust or initial trust among the bulk of the respondents in these studies. Thus, it is imperative to consider the variations inherent in the individual-level characteristics of trust in order to better understand the effect of control across organizations. The results of our study indicate that even though monitoring mechanisms are used to prevent partners＇ opportunism, they also increase the trustor＇s cognition-based trust in their partners. Our findings also support the common assumption that people with a strong propensity to trust are more likely to trust others. Thus, another way of generating trust is to select managers who have a strong propensity to trust. However, the relationship between monitoring mechanism and trust is less positive for project managers who have a stronger propensity to trust. Based on these findings, some contingency suggestions are also presented to gain better trust among projects partners.