Date of Conferral

2021

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

James S. Herndon

Abstract

Team trust in teams of collaborative knowledge workers has been identified as one of the main mediators of team effectiveness, and one of the most important outcomes of effective team leadership. The purpose of this quantitative nonexperimental study was to explore the relationships among relational transparency as a component of authentic leader’s behavior, and the levels of affect-based trust and distrust, as well as the relationship between both outcomes in context of the process of their emergence in a team setting. A total of 176 knowledge workers from a commercial business contact database participated. The relationships between these variables were evaluated using quantitative methods of analysis. Multiple analysis of covariance was conducted to investigate the association between the levels of relational transparency in team leaders with the team levels of affect-based trust and distrust. Regression analysis was conducted to investigate the relationship between the affect-based trust and distrust on the team level. The study results indicated that there was a positive association between the level of leader’s relational transparency and the team levels of affect-based trust and distrust. It suggests that a leader needs to seek optimal levels of openness and transparency to promote collective trust, but concurrently needs to instill conditions allowing for certain levels of distrust to promote nonroutine information processing. The investigation has a potential to contribute to positive social change by showing how effective teams can improve workplace relationships in business enterprises seen as vehicles for the general betterment of individuals, communities, and society.

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