Multilevel trust: Reflections, insights, and a future research agenda

Human resource management (HRM) is a key context in which to explore trust, and multilevel study is no exception. In our review, we outline three distinct areas of contribution – first, advancing knowledge of how HRM policy and practice increase trust in either the employing organization or management and second, through improving understanding of the typically mediating process trust plays between HRM policies and delivery of organizational outcomes. This work has enhanced understanding of the inter-relationships between interpersonal trust (in colleagues, or line managers) and trust in the employing organization, and shows that both trust in supervisors and the employing organization are required and play a role in employee vulnerability. Multilevel research has also expanded knowledge of trust dynamics, such as revealing shifts in the cues newcomers use. Third, important insights have emerged that explain why different workplaces influence these trust pathways and result in different outcomes. Our review reveals significant omissions, particularly the lack of research on distrust, and the need to better understand how HRM content and trust processes are experienced by minority groups and women, who may receive less favorable employment outcomes.