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Developing Organizational Trust Through Advancement of Employees’ Work Ethic in a Post-Socialist Context

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Abstract

The paper highlights the dependence of the level of organizational trust on work ethic and aims to show that development of trust in organizations can be␣stimulated by raising the level of work ethic with organizational practices. Based on the framework by Kanungo, R. N. and A. M. Jaeger (1990, ‘Introduction: The Need for Indigenous Management In Developing Countries’, in A. M. Jaeger and R. N. Kanungo (eds.), Management in Developing Countries (Routledge, London), pp. 1–23), historical–cultural analysis of the Lithuanian context is carried out. The country is chosen as an example of a post-socialist context where work ethic and trust in the society tended to be rather low. The authors discuss organizational practices, particularly the ones related to people management, which can facilitate development of work ethic, and thus, trust in organizations operating in a post-socialist context. The importance of a processual approach to the development of organizational trust and the ethical content of organizational practices, which are aimed at developing organizational trust is highlighted. Directions for further research are indicated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kaunas Faculty of Humanities, University of Vilnius, Muitinės 8, Kaunas, Lithuania

    Raminta Pučėtaitė

  2. School of Business and Economics, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, 40014, Jyvaskyla, Finland

    Anna-Maija Lämsä

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  1. Raminta Pučėtaitė
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  2. Anna-Maija Lämsä
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Correspondence to Raminta Pučėtaitė.

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Pučėtaitė, R., Lämsä, AM. Developing Organizational Trust Through Advancement of Employees’ Work Ethic in a Post-Socialist Context. J Bus Ethics 82, 325–337 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-008-9922-x

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