Trust Matters: Examining the Dynamics of Management's Trust in Employee Representation

While trust's relevance in employment relations has been recognised by scholars, empirical studies on management's trust in employee representation are notably scarce. The paper addresses this gap, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of the dynamics that shape effective dialogue in the employment relationship. Drawing from the European Company Survey 2019, we found that management's trust in employee representation predicts the implementation of direct employee involvement and participation practices and employee representation effectiveness. Our findings also show patterns consistent with the importance of direct employee involvement and participation practices as a transmission channel through which trust in employee representation translates into greater employee representation effectiveness. Finally, we explore firm size as a boundary condition, showing that the proposed channel is stronger in medium‐sized firms. Overall, our results are robust to alternative specifications. We discuss the theoretical implications of our findings and present avenues for future research.