Transformations  in
Business & Economics

Organisations which have the Strongest Potential for High-Level Organisational Trust in a Low-Trust Societal Context
Raminta Pucetaite, Anna-Maija Lamsa, Aurelija Novelskaite

ABSTRACT. The paper is based on a prior study that investigates the interrelations among ethics management tools, ethical organizational practices and organizational trust in a post-socialist context (Pučėtaitė et al., 2010). The study identified fair and just human resource management practices, open communication and employees’ participation as the strongest predictors of organizational trust. An ethics code and ethics auditing had a weaker effect on organizational trust and only in a small number of cases. This paper aims to further explore the findings, discussing socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents and their organizations that make implications to building organizational trust in a post-socialist context which is characterized by rather low societal trust (Pučėtaitė and Lämsä, 2010; Sztompka, 1999). The research findings indicate that the respondents’ gender, position in the organization and education can be significant in perceptions of organizational trust. Age is important in perception of ethical organizational practices, in particular the ones related to communication and participation. Small organizations are more sensitive to fair and just HRM practices. Private and foreign-capital organizations are favourable contexts for developing organizational trust. These companies could be regarded as “light-houses” with the strongest potential to advance organizational trust if proper managerial efforts are made. Beside managerial implications the paper makes suggestions for further research.

KEYWORDS: ethics management tools, ethical organizational practices, organizational trust, post-socialist context, Lithuania.

JEL classification: M12, M14, M5, P2.