Chapter 6: An Integrative Framework of Interpartner Trust in Alliances: The Micro-Macro Metaemergence

As most scholars focus on interpersonal trust in a dyad domain, there is a lack of research on the intra- or interpartner trust in alliances in a network domain (Burke, Sims, Lazzara, & Salas, 2007; Dirks & Ferrin, 2002; Schoorman, Mayer, & Davis, 2007). A key challenge to the research on the trust in a network domain is how to describe and explain organizational trust as a possible multisource, multidomain, and multilevel, rather than a single-source, single-domain, and single-level, phenomenon (Currall & Inkpen, 2002; Li, 2008a). We know little about how the trust in a dyad domain differs from the trust in a network domain, and how the two will affect each other (e.g., Zaheer, McEvily, & Perrone, 1998). For instance, the trust in a network domain tends to be weaker than the trust in a dyad domain (e.g., Insko, Kirchner, Pinter, Efaw, & Wildshut, 2005); also, intercultural trust tends to differ from intracultural trust (e.g., Zaheer & Zaheer, 2006). Hence, we must verify the claim that interpartner trust in alliances is a multidomain, multisource, and multilevel phenomenon above and beyond an aggregated sum of interpersonal trust in a dyad domain (Li, 2008a; cf. Zaheer et al., 1998). To close the gap, the purpose of this study is to address two basic questions: (1) why does the interpartner trust in alliances in the domain of network at the macrolevel differ from the interpersonal trust in the domain of dyad at the microlevel, and (2) how can the two domains at two levels affect each other so as to holistically, dynamically and dialectically delineate the integrative bases (with both sources and domains) for interpartner trust in alliances across the macro- and microlevels.