Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T09:07:36.907Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Particularistic Trust and General Trust: A Network Analysis inChinese Organizations[1]

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Jar-Der Luo
Jar-Der Luo*
Affiliation:
Tsinghua University, Beijing, Peoples' Republic of , China
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In this paper, I examine the structural positions in two different types ofnetworks and their relationship to trust. I propose two types of trust:particularistic which is trust in specific other individuals and generaltrust in colleagues and the organization as a whole. The findings suggestthat both centrality in the friendship network and the go-between positionin advice networks are related to particularistic trust towards the otherindividuals in the networks. Particularistic trust, in turn, is associatedwith the two kinds of general trust. I introduce the Chinese concept of pao to explain the Chinese dynamic of trust formation ininterpersonal networks.

Type
Articles
Information
Management and Organization Review , Volume 1 , Issue 3 , November 2005 , pp. 437 - 458
Copyright
Copyright © International Association for Chinese Management Research 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

[1]

I thank the financial support of Academia Sinica for my 'InformationTechnology and Social Transformation' project, and the NationalScience Foundation of Taiwan for my research project NSC89-2416-H-155-041. Previous versions of this paper have been presentedat the 2003 International Association for Chinese Management ResearchInauguration Convention and the 2002 Convention of the Hong KongSociological Association. I am grateful for the valuable comments fromvarious reviewers and in particular senior editors Yanjie Bian, AnneTusi, and Joseph Galaskiewicz, who patiently guided me through thedevelopment of this paper. The help of Herm Smith in improving theEnglish writing of the paper and providing the concept of assurance isalso appreciated.

References

Barber, B. (1983). The Logic and Limits of Trust. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Baron, R. M. and Kenny, D. A. (1986). ‘The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations’. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173–82.10.1037/0022-3514.51.6.11733806354Google Scholar
Blau, P. (1964). Exchange and Power in Social Life. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Brass, D. and Burkhardt, M. (1992). ‘Centrality and power in organizations’. In Nohria, N. and Eccles, R. G. (Ed.), Networks and Organizations (pp. 191–215). Boston: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
Brown, T. F. (1997). Theoretical Perspectives on Social Capital. Working paper located in http://hal.lamar.edu/˜BROWNTF/SOCCAP.HTML.Google Scholar
Burt, R. (1992). Structural Holes: The Social Structure of Competition. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Butler, J. (1991). ‘Toward understanding and measuring conditions of trust: Evolution of a condition of trust inventory’. Journal of Management, 17, 643–64.Google Scholar
Butler, J. K. and Cantrell, R. S. (1984). ‘A behavioral decision theory approach to modeling dyadic trust in superiors and subordinates’. Psychological Reports, 55, 19–28.10.2466/pr0.1984.55.1.19Google Scholar
Cammann, C., Fichman, M., Jenkins, D. and Klesh, J. (1979). The Michigan organizational assessment questionnaire. Unpublished manuscript, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Chen, C.-H. (1994). Subcontracting Networks and Social Life. Taipei: Lien-Jin Press.Google Scholar
Coleman, J. (1990). Foundations of Social Theory. Cambridge: The Belknap Press.Google Scholar
Creed, D. and Miles, R. (1996). ‘Trust in organizations’. In Kramer, R. M. and Tyler, T. (Eds.), Trust in Organizations (pp. 16–39). London: Sage Publication Inc.Google Scholar
Cummings, L. L. and Bromiley, P. (1996). ‘The organizational trust inventory: Development and validation’. In Kramer, R. M. and Tyler, T. (Eds.), Trust in Organizations (pp. 302–30). London: Sage Publication Inc.Google Scholar
Deutsch, M. (1958). ‘Trust and suspicion’. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 2, 265–79.10.1177/002200275800200401Google Scholar
Downes, M., Hemmasi, M., Graf, L. A., Kelley, L. and Huff, L. (2002). ‘The propensity to trust: A comparative study of United States and Japanese managers’. International Journal of Management, 19, 614–21.Google Scholar
Fei, H.-T. (1948). Peasant Life in China. London: Routledge & Kegan.Google Scholar
Fukuyama, F. (1996). Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity. NY: Free Press.Google Scholar
Gambetta, D. (1988). ‘Can we trust trust?’ In Gambetta, D. (Ed.), Trust: Making and Breaking Cooperative Relations (pp. 213–38). Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Gouldner, A. W. (1959). ‘The norm of reciprocity: A preliminary statement’. Symposium on Sociological Theory (pp. 241–70). Evanston, IL: Row. Peterson.Google Scholar
Granovetter, M. (1973). ‘The strength of weak tie’. American Journal of Sociology, 78, 1360–8010.1086/225469Google Scholar
Granovetter, M. (1985). ‘Economic action and social structure: The problem of embeddedness’. American Journal of Sociology, 91, 481–510.10.1086/228311Google Scholar
Hardin, R. (2001). ‘Conceptions and explanations of trust’. In Cook, K. S. (Ed.), Trust in Society (pp. 3–39). NY: Russel Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Hollon, C.J. and Gemmill, G. R. (1977). ‘Interpersonal trust and personal effectiveness in the work environment’. Psychological-Reports, 40, 454.10.2466/pr0.1977.40.2.454Google Scholar
Hwang, K. K. (1987). ‘Face and favor: The Chinese power game’. American Journal of Sociology, 92, 944–74.10.1086/228588Google Scholar
Krackhardt, D. (1992). ‘The strength of strong ties: The importance of philos in organizations’. In Nohria, N. and Eccles, R. G. (Eds.), Networks and Organizations (pp. 216–40). Boston: Harvard Business School Press.Google Scholar
Krackhardt, D. and Hanson, J. (1993). ‘Informal networks: The company behind the chart’. Harvard Business Review, July-Aug, 104–11.Google Scholar
Krackhardt, D. and Porter, L. W. (1985). ‘When friends leave: A structural analysis of the relationship between turnover and stayer's attitudes’. Administrative Science Quarterly, 30, 242–61.10.2307/2393107Google Scholar
Lin, N., Fu, Y.-C. and Hsung, R.-M. (2001). ‘The position generator: Measurement techniques for investigation of social capital’. In Lin, N., Cook, K. and Burt, R. (Eds.), Social Capital: Theory and Research (pp. 57–81). NY: Aldine De Gruyter.Google Scholar
Luo, J.-D. (2005). ‘Toward a theory of trust in Chinese organizations’. Paper presented at Sunbelt XXV, Los Angeles, Feb. 2005.AMBIGUOUS (697200 citations)Google Scholar
Marsden, P. and Campbell, K. (1984). ‘Measuring tie strength’. Social Forces, 63, 483–501.Google Scholar
Miles, R. and Creed, D. (1995). ‘Organizational forms and managerial philosophies’. Research in Organizational Behavior, 17, 333–72.Google Scholar
Mishra, A. K. (1996). ‘Organizational responses to crisis: The centrality of trust’. In Kramer, R. M. and Tyler, T. (Eds.), Trust in Organizations (pp. 261–87). London: Sage Publication Inc.Google Scholar
Mowday, R. T., Steers, R. M. and Porter, L. W. (1979). ‘The measurement of organizational commitment’. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 14, 224–47.10.1016/0001-8791(79)90072-1Google Scholar
Porter, L. W. and Smith, F. J. (1970). The etiology of organizational commitment. Unpublished manuscript, University of California, Irvine.Google Scholar
Robinson, S. L. and Morrison, E. W. (1995). ‘Psychological contracts and OCB: The effect of unfulfilled obligations on civic virtue behavior’. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 16, 289–98.10.1002/job.4030160309Google Scholar
Rotter, J. B. (1971). ‘Generalized expectations for interpersonal trust’. American Psychologist, 26, 443–52.10.1037/h0031464Google Scholar
Sheppard, B. H. and M., Tuchinsky. (1996). ‘Micro-OB and the network organization’. In Kramer, R. M. and Tyler, T. (Eds.), Trust in Organizations (pp. 140–65). London: Sage Publication Inc.Google Scholar
Sitkin, S., and Pablo, A. (1992). ‘Reconceptualizing the determinants of risk behavior’. Academy of Management Review, 17, 9–34 Google Scholar
Smith, H. W. (1995). ‘Predicting stress in American-Japanese business relations’. Journal of Asian Business, 12, 79–89.Google Scholar
Smith, H. W. (2002). ‘Confirming and disconfirming supervisor-subordinate relationships in Japan, the USA, Germany and China’. 2002 Association of Japanese Business Association Best Papers and Abstracts, pp. 265–64.AMBIGUOUS (770 citations)Google Scholar
Trompenaars, A. (1994). Riding the Waves of Culture: Understanding Diversity in Global Business. Burr Ridge, IL: Irwin.Google Scholar
Tsai, W. and Ghoshal, S. (1998). ‘Social capital and value creation: The role of intra-firm networks’. Academy of Management Journal, 41, 464–7810.2307/257085Google Scholar
Tsui, A. S. and Farh, J.-L. (1997). ‘Where guanxi matters-Relational demography and guanxi and technology’. Work and Occupations, 24, 57–79.Google Scholar
Uzzi, B. (1996). ‘The sources and consequences of embeddedness for the economic performance of organizations’. American Sociological Review, 61, 674–98.10.2307/2096399Google Scholar
Wasserman, S. and Faust, K. (1994). Social Network Analysis: Methods and Applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wellman, B. (1992). ‘Which types of ties and networks give what kinds of social support?’ Advances in Group Process, 9, 207–35.Google Scholar
Wellman, B. and Frank, K. A. (2001). ‘Network capital in a multilevel world: Getting support from personal communities’. In Lin, N., Cook, K. and Burt, R. (Eds.), Social Capital: Theory and Research (pp. 233–73). NY: Aldine De Gruyter.Google Scholar
Yamagishi, T., Cook, K. and Watabe, M. (1998). ‘Uncertainty, trust, and commitment formation in the United States and Japan’. American Journal of Sociology, 104, 165–95.10.1086/210005Google Scholar
Yamagishi, T. and Yamagishi, M. (1994). ‘Trust and commitment in the United States and Japan’. Motivation and Emotion, 18, 129–66.10.1007/BF02249397Google Scholar
Yang, M. (1994). Gifts, Favors, and Banquets: The Art of Social Relationships in China. NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Zucker, L. G. (1986). ‘Production of trust: Institutional sources of economic structure, 1840-1920’. Research in Organizational Behavior, 8, 53–111.Google Scholar