Article Abstract
Human resource (HR) practices hold great promise in fostering employee trust, and insights into how HR practices relate to employee trust are critical to evidence-informed management. However, extant research findings are fragmented and dispersed across disciplines and use a confusing plethora of concepts, limiting insights. To address these problems, we conducted a systematic review to offer a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of “what,” “how,” and “when” HR practices influence employee trust toward four referents (supervisor, management, peers, and organization). Specifically, we identify the evidence-based patterns regarding “what” HR practices are related to employee trust toward “what” referents, “how” HR practices are related to employee trust, and “when” HR practices are more or less related to employee trust. We find that while bundles of HR practices are positively associated with vertical trust toward management, lateral trust toward peers, and organizational trust, individual HR practices have differential associations with trust toward the four referents, which in turn predict different outcomes. We discuss research limitations and opportunities and provide a framework and set of methodological recommendations to guide a new wave of future research. We propose a broader set of theories to enrich understanding of “how” HR practices lead to employee trust, further clarifications on the HR and trust concepts examined, and explore additional moderators. These efforts will further integrate trust and HR research and generate more rigorous knowledge to inform management of employee trust through HR practices.
Journal of Management, April 2025
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About the researcher
Nicole Gillespie is an internationally recognised scholar on trust in organisations. She holds the Chair in Trust and is Professor of Management at Melbourne Business School and the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Melbourne. Nicole is also an International Research Fellow at the Centre for Reputation at Oxford University, Honorary Professor at the University of Queensland, and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia and the Australian and New Zealand School of Government.
Trained in organizational psychology and management, Nicole's research focuses on trust development and repair, particularly in contexts where trust is challenged (e.g. after a trust failure, in complex stakeholder environments, during digital disruption, and in cross-cultural relations). Current projects focus on trust in artificial intelligence and the responsible adoption and governance of AI, stakeholder trust and evaluations of organizations, organizational trust repair, and leading trustworthy organizations.