Interpersonal trust in GermanCzech work relations: Mutual expectations and suggestions for improvement

Issues of trust have received much attention of researchers of multiple disciplines. Growing interest can be seen on how culture and trust are interrelated and what trust means for intercultural work relations. In this study, trust and trustworthiness are analyzed between Czech and German employees and managers through a qualitative and a quantitative approach. First, we focus on the question if cultural differences exist in the process of evaluating the trustworthiness of another person (implicit trust theory), and which specific actions are (not) considered trustworthy behaviour on both sides. Second, the relevance and degree of perceived trustworthiness between Czechs and Germans within the business context is explored. Finally, suggestions by practitioners for successful trust development are described. The results show that abstract categories of trustworthiness (e.g. reliability) are similar on the German and the Czech side, but the reported signals and actions are somewhat different. Perceived trustworthiness was found to be significantly related to the satisfaction with the co-operation.