Summary

The introductory article to the Journal of Management Studies Special Issue on control-trust dynamics uses a framework that synthesizes micro- and macro- organizational research to elucidate the interplay between control and trust over time. By outlining a roadmap for future research, we identify paths for refining and extending our comprehension of how control and trust jointly facilitate cooperation, reduce uncertainty, and increase accountability within, between, and across organizations.

Challenges

While potentially beneficial, harmonizing control and trust is challenging. Some forms of control can erode trust and compromise intrinsic motivation, thereby undermining organizational performance. Similarly, trust can make some controls feel obtrusive and overbearing. Variations in individual understanding, motivation, capabilities, and objectives further complicate the terrain, making control-trust synergies difficult to achieve. Thus, the question persists: which control-trust mechanisms and interactions yield positive outcomes and which ones generate negative consequences?

Recent global events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the ascendancy of artificial intelligence (AI), have accentuated the urgency of addressing control and trust dynamics. Remote work and digital reliance necessitate striking new balances between control and trust. In AI-driven environments, effective control and trust mechanisms are imperative to ensure ethical use and alignment with organizational values.

Scholarship on control-trust dynamics currently stands at a crossroads. Despite extensive research, fragmentation across disciplines and theoretical oversights have impeded the formation of a coherent, cumulative knowledge base. To advance our understanding, we hope to begin to bridge the micro-macro divide and synthesize competing perspectives.

Insights

Scholars have generated numerous insights regarding the relationship between control and trust, including the following:

Risk Mitigation: Managers install control mechanisms to mitigate organizational risks and uncertainties in ways that foster trust between actors. For example, when parties conduct financial transactions, the legal contracts (a form of control) they employ enforce accountability, which can engender mutual trust.

Complementary Roles: Control and trust often play complementary roles. Control mechanisms outline what form of cooperation is required while trust increases an actor’s confidence that they will benefit from that cooperation. When control is used appropriately and fairly, it can bolster trust by increasing perceived predictability that benefits will be obtained.

Balancing Autonomy and Accountability: Organizations succeed when employees employ autonomy responsibly. Controls that monitor employee outputs give employees the freedom to make their own decisions about how to achieve goals. This helps ensure that employees exercise autonomy in ways that establish their trustworthiness.

Transparency and Predictability: Managers use control mechanisms to establish transparency of objectives and expectations. This transparency fosters trust by increasing employees’ capacities to predict and understand managers’ reactions to their work.

Conflict Resolution: Control mechanisms such as grievance procedures and decision-making protocols provide structured ways to address and resolve conflicts between individuals, teams, and business units. These controls foster trust by increasing confidence that conflicts will be handled fairly and impartially.

Building Confidence: When organizations have robust control systems in place, they signal to employees, customers, and partners that they take their responsibilities seriously. This can contribute to trust development in an organization’s intentions, values, and reliability.

Cultural and Contextual Factors: Organizational environments influence relationships between control and trust. In some cultures, high levels of control are seen as untrustworthy, while in others, they may be viewed as necessary managerial approaches. Understanding these types of cultural nuances is crucial for managing control and trust effectively across diverse settings.

Dynamic Nature: Trust can increase or erode based on the experiences individuals have with particular organizational controls (e.g., rules and procedures). Recognizing the dynamic relationship between trust and control, managers can preserve or enhance trust by ensuring that control mechanisms remain appropriate as conditions change.

Scholars and managers pay attention to control-trust dynamics because the synergy (or lack thereof) between control and trust directly impacts how individuals and organizations perform and function. When implemented thoughtfully and in balance, control mechanisms can strengthen trust by creating a foundation of reliability, fairness, and predictability. Trust, in turn, can increase the efficacy of controls by bounding managerial oversight, clarifying individual areas of discretion, and reducing the incentive to ignore or evade controls.

Our Special Issue is aimed at invigorating scholarly and applied work in this area by offering fresh insights and perspectives on control and trust that extend past research that has examined these concepts in isolation. We have proposed an integrative framework that reconciles micro and macro organizational views of control and trust dynamics, laying the groundwork for future research and applied work.

Some articles in this Special Issue advocate for the exploration and refinement of established constructs while also offering new insights into control-trust relationships. Other articles examine how control and trust interact in ways that challenge existing dualistic, complementary, and substitutive conceptualizations. Several articles highlight dynamism by examining impacts produced by technological advancements, cultural or societal changes, and individual perceptions.

The issue provides the groundwork for future researchers to discover new concepts, frameworks, and control-trust interventions. Recognizing the pivotal role of control and trust in human interactions and systems is essential for forging healthy relationships, fostering cooperation, and achieving peak performance. We hope that this Special Issue serves as a springboard and inspiration for scholars to push the boundaries of knowledge and generate fresh ideas on control and trust dynamics.