Dangerous Liaisons: Trust, Distrust, and Information Technology in American Work Organizations

Abstract

This paper employs an inductive, natural-systems approach to explore the complex social and economic factors whose interaction generate trust and distrust between individuals, subunits, and firms in American corporations. The objective of this investigation is to gain a better understanding of the role of interpersonal trust and distrust on the implementation and use of new information technologies in organizational settings. The focus of the investigation is work-group control of information flow across organizational boundaries under conditions of trust and distrust, and the consequences of advanced information technology for such information-control practices. A central finding is that more powerful parties often try to force a shift in the medium of information exchange to gain greater control in specific hierarchical relationships. When these changes threaten the quality or security of information required by less powerful parties, resistance is the result. The discussion suggests that deployment of advanced information technology without the application of local knowledge of social interrelationships increases the risk of implementation failure.