J. Scott Holste
This study explores the differential effects of types of trust on intra-organizational knowledge exchange. An extensive review of trust and knowledge literatures demonstrates the need for robust, multidimensional models and measures of these two constructs. Employing McAllister's (1995) measures of affect-based trust and cognition-based trust and introducing new measures of explicit and tacit knowledge sharing and use, the study tests five hypothesized relationships between trust and knowledge within a non-profit organization. Utilizing survey data collected from 202 serving in managerial and/or professional roles, the study found statistically significant relationships between affect-based trust and the willingness to share organizational knowledge and between cognition-based trust and the willingness to use organizational knowledge. The age, gender, and organizational tenure of survey respondents did not affect these correlations.
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