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International Association for Conflict Management

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On power and metaperceptions of trust: When and why leaders are perceived as unwilling to trust

What undermines people’s perception that a leader trusts them? We develop a theoretical model that specifies when and why metaperceptions of trust of leaders are undermined. Consistent with our model, we demonstrate across a field study and four experiments that the power of a leader is negatively related to people’s perception that this leader trusts them. This negative relationship was independent of people’s trust in a leader, was mediated by the perception that a leader views others as having selfish motives, and was found across a variety of samples, measurements, and manipulations of power and trust. We discuss the theoretical implications for the literature on power and trust and we discuss the practical implications for organizations.

Marlon Mooijman
Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
United States

Maryam Kouchaki
Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
United States

 

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