Pockets of Trust in a Landscape of Distrust: Interorganisational Trust and the Challenge of Conflicting Institutional Logics

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58235/sjpa.v27i3.14899

Keywords:

trust, distrust, control, institutional logics, civil servants, customer choice system

Abstract

This paper examines the development of trust in interorganisational relationships (IORs) that are embedded in conflicting institutional logics. The study focuses on a recently established customer choice system for domestic elderly care that involves a complex constellation of logics for the parties involved in the IORs to handle. We explore how boundary spanners deal with conflicting logics and the impact it has on the development of trust in IORs, including both positive and negative expectations of trustees and the new customer choice system. Using the institutional logics in action theory, we propose a new approach to understanding the role of institutional embeddedness in IORs and provide empirical evidence of how institutional logics influence the development of trust. We introduce the concept of “pocket of trust” to describe the compartmentalised development of trust in an organisational environment otherwise characterised by distrust and control efforts.

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Author Biographies

Lena Högberg, Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, Sweden

Lena Högberg, PhD, is a senior lecturer at the Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University. Her research interests include organising, trust and control in cross-sectoral solutions to societal challenges, such as sustainability, diversity and welfare.

Birgitta Sköld, Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University, Sweden

Birgitta Sköld is an associate senior lecturer in business administration at Linköping University and researches the consequences of public sector transformation with a focus on women's entrepreneurship. She is a researcher at the Helix Competence Center at Linköping University.

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Published

2023-09-15

How to Cite

Högberg, L., & Sköld, B. (2023). Pockets of Trust in a Landscape of Distrust: Interorganisational Trust and the Challenge of Conflicting Institutional Logics. Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration, 27(3), 7–23. https://doi.org/10.58235/sjpa.v27i3.14899

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