Trust-Building Behaviours and Control Mechanisms in Hierarchical Dyads: A Grounded Model

Trust-control dynamics have captured the scholarly attention for decades. Despite ongoing efforts, the relationship between trust and control remains inconclusive. This paper sheds light on how managerial trust-building behaviors and control mechanisms interrelate when building employee trust in the workplace. The study gleaned insights from semi-structured interviews with managers and employees from a fifty-year old, mid-sized construction and property development company. Grounded theory methodology brought forth four distinct dimensions of trust-building behaviors, including (1) foundational, (2) organizational, (3) analytical, and (4) context-driven trust-building behaviors. Furthermore, linkages to different forms of control were identified to better understand how trust and control interact. Findings suggest that the overall complementary function of input, action and output controls oscillates depending on context and the degree to which employees’ trust expectations are met, offering new avenues for future research.