Organizational trust is defined as a state where stakeholders (e.g., employees, investors, customers) feel that they can confidently rely on the company. A decade of research has produced compelling evidence that trust is crucial to organizational performance. Yet while trust is clearly essential to effectiveness, it remains a confusing topic for many scholars and practitioners. This entry defines trust and trustworthiness and examines how organizational trust can be measured and managed. The relationship between organizational trust and the larger concept of corporate reputation is also reviewed.

Trust

The words love and trust can be used to characterize the nature of a relationship. The words distrust and hate similarly can be used to describe a relationship that is adversarial. Trust has been defined as the willingness to

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