Distinguishing Trust and Power in Interorganizational Relations: Forms and Façades of Trust

In this paper, we examine two definitions of trust commonly found in the management literature; one that defines trust as predictability, and one that emphasizes the role of goodwill. We suggest that neither approach is satisfactory since both ignore issues of asymmetrical power and conflicting interests, and provide little insight into how trust can be created. We propose a third definition, one that combines expectations and goodwill, and conceptualizes trust as a process of sense-making that rests on shared meaning and the involvement of all participants in a communication process. From this conceptualization, we are able to distinguish between trust-based and power-based interorganizational relationships and to develop a model that identifies both forms and façades of trust. We provide examples to illustrate the implications of this approach for research and practice.