The Moral Foundations of Trust Violations In Work Relations: A Profile Approach

The study of interpersonal trust in organizations has largely relied on the framework developed by Mayer, Davis, and Schoorman (1995), which proposes ability, benevolence, and integrity as the bases of trustworthiness. However, given the Western bias in theory development, integrity and benevolence, which rely on an understanding of morality that prioritizes fairness and justice concerns on the one hand and harm and welfare concerns on the other hand may be overly restrictive. Content analysis of critical incidents (n=109) by working adults from Turkey reveal that trust breaches may also develop as a result of moral imperatives concerning betrayal, subversion and oppression.