FINT Goes to Singapore! 21-23 November 2013  

Call for Papers The 7th FINT Workshop on Trust Within and Between Organizations First International Network on Trust Singapore Management University, SINGAPORE  

In the past two decades, issues of trust in intra- and inter-organizational relationships have been increasing in importance on the agendas of organizational scholars. This emphasis reflects both the critical importance of trust, and the increasing challenge of building and maintaining trust, in organizations and societies around the world. By establishing a forum for trust scholars from different countries and disciplines, FINT workshops have played an important role in the development of an international research program on ‘Trust Within and Between Organizations.’ Each of the first six workshops organized in 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2010, and 2012 succeeded in bringing together scholars from over 20 countries and a wide range of disciplines including economics, marketing, work and organizational psychology, sociology of organizations, political sciences, information sciences, and linguistics. Our 2013 workshop is organized in Singapore with the hope of also attracting researchers from the growing Asian scientific communities to engage in a more intensive dialogue between East and West.  

CALL FOR PAPERS  

Trust is a concept and shared human experience that crosses disciplinary, cultural, and generational boundaries. It lies at the heart of all human relationships whether with another individual, a group, or an institution. Trust is a key factor in our conceptions of society and civilization, and it is claimed to be essential in enabling and enhancing cooperation, sharing of information, problem solving, fostering commitment and job satisfaction as well as generating a range of individual, group, organizational, and societal performance outcomes. The changing nature of the current social and political environments within which we exist as individuals and as members of groups, highlights the importance of trust to success and simultaneously, the challenges to its continued existence within relationships and institutions.  

Although research into trust has advanced significantly in the last decade, our understanding remains limited and there is much that we have, as yet, not explored. Important questions remain as to how trust is built, maintained, and repaired in the multiplicity of contexts, the dynamic environments, and relationships of which it is part. The FINT workshop seeks to provide a forum in which we further develop our trust knowledge within an inspiring community. We welcome as both junior and senior contributors representatives of the academic and practitioner communities from a wide range of academic disciplines, using qualitative and quantitative methods, with empirical and theoretical insights to offer. Hence our call for papers is deliberately broad. We are open for all research questions pertaining to current trust research and invite the submission of proposals for symposia, thematic roundtables, interactive workshops, and other innovative sessions, in addition to individual papers (see below for the specific requirements).  

We would also like to open a forum for papers that address a hitherto less studied area: context theories about trust. Bamberger (2008, AMJ) argued that management theory could be advanced by moving from simply identifying the context within which a distinct phenomenon is analyzed to developing theories that incorporate differences in the phenomenon across contexts. Such a context could be different regulatory frameworks, national cultures, or different institutions, but also different vulnerabilities of stakeholders seeking to trust a corporation. Possible research issues and questions involve: (1) Why do individuals in some societies/organizations/groups trust even strangers to watch out for their interests, while individuals in other societies/organizations/groups use distrust as the default condition for strangers? (2) How does trust and its development differ between people of different national cultures? How does trust between companies of different cultures develop? (3) How exactly do institutions allow trusting parties to deal with the inherent risk that accompanies trust, and how do different institutions such as legal norms, contracts or professional organizations, impact trust development and trust repair? (4) How does trust differ in form or function in understudied contexts such as family businesses, the public sector, or highly turbulent economic, political, organizational, or societal environments? (5) What could be the effect of trust on the contexts in which it occurs? How can trust be institutionalized to the extent that it becomes part of the context?     

Format and Submission  

We invite you to contribute a short paper for competitive selection. Your short paper should explain the relevance of the chosen topic, provide the theoretical background and research question, and explicate the approach followed. Empirical papers should describe the methods of analysis and highlight (or at least preview) their main findings and contributions. Papers should represent work that has not yet been published, accepted for publication, or presented at previous FINT-related conferences.   Papers should be submitted in MS Word, double-spaced 12pt Times New Roman font, and numbered pages. To facilitate double-blind review, the title page should exclude author names or any other identifying information. However please make sure that you provide the details of authorship in your mail. Any submission should be no longer than 3000 words (including title, abstract, figures, references etc.). Submissions should be e-mailed to FINT2013@smu.edu.sg by 31 May 2013, 23:59h, EST.   If you plan to submit a different format such as a symposia or an interactive workshop please contact Antoinette Weibel beforehand as we will have limited space for these type of formats.   About FINT   The First International Network on Trust (FINT) aims to further international cooperation in trust research via conferences, workshops, regular newsletters, and various other activities. FINT members have organized numerous tracks on trust at EURAM, EGOS, and Academy of Management conferences. FINT actively aims to further publications on trust, preferably co-authored by scholars from different countries. Workshop and track papers have been brought together in special issues of Personnel Review (2003, vol 32, 5), Journal of Managerial Psychology (2004, vol 19, 6) and Strategic Change (2005), an edited volume on ‘Trust under pressure (published by Edward Elgar) and special issues on ‘Trust and control’ of International Sociology (2005) and Group and Organization Management (2007). Recent book publications are Trust and Human Resources Management, the Handbook of Research Methods on Trust (both published by Edward Elgar) and Organizational Trust - A Cultural Perspective, a volume published by Cambridge University Press. FINT members have also contributed actively to the creation of the Journal of Trust Research. More info on FINT can be found at www.fintweb.org and also FINT’s Linked-In Groupsite, http://www.linkedin.com/groups/FINT-First-International-Network-Trust-4824312?home=&gid=4824312&trk=anet_ug_hm. For membership, mail to: r.zolin@qut.edu.au  

About Singapore Management University (SMU) and Singapore  

Singapore Management University (SMU) is internationally recognised for its world class research and distinguished teaching. Home to about 8,000 students, SMU comprises six schools: School of Accountancy, Lee Kong Chian School of Business, School of Economics, School of Information Systems, School of Law, and School of Social Sciences, offering a wide range of bachelor’s, master’s and PhD degree programmes in business and other academic disciplines. With an emphasis on generating rigorous, high impact, cross-disciplinary research that addresses Asian issues of global relevance, SMU faculty members collaborate with leading foreign researchers as well as partners in the business community and public sector through SMU’s research institutes and centres. The SMU city campus is a state-of-the art facility located in the heart of downtown Singapore, fostering strategic linkages with the business and wider community. More information on SMU can be found at www.smu.edu.sg.      

Please direct any questions to FINT2013@smu.edu.sg, or any of the committee members below:  

Programme Committee

Antoinette Weibel, antoinette.weibel@uni-konstanz.de

Guido Möllering, g.moellering@jacobs-university.de

S. Arzu Wasti, awasti@sabanciuniv.edu  

Local Arrangements Committee

Don Ferrin, dferrin@smu.edu.sg

Serena Lu, ch.lu.2012@pbs.smu.edu.sg