If You Can't Trust, Stick to Hierarchy: Structure and Trust as Contingency Factors in Threat Assessment Contexts
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Edward H. Powley
and Mark E. Nissen
Organizations have and will continue to face threats and crisis from a number of sources. We study trust from a contingency theory framework and hypothesize that trust levels vary depending on different organizational designs. Using data from the laboratory experimentation tool ELICIT, a multiplayer simulation, we examine the effect of trust levels and organizational design on performance. We find that trust and organizational design have strong interactions and that hierarchical organizations experience performance levels well below flexible organizational structures. We offer implications for managers who are responsible for identifying and responding to threat and crises.
©2012 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Research Article
- Use of Small-Scale Test Data to Enhance Fire-Related Threat, Vulnerability, Consequence and Risk Assessment for Passenger Rail Vehicles
- Strategic Cyber Defense: Which Way Forward?
- Effect of a Marketing Program on Freshman Student Registration for an Emergency Notification System
- Strategic uses of Lessons for Building Collaborative Emergency Management System: Comparative Analysis of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Gustav Response Systems
- The Relationship between Turkey's Provinces' Development Levels and Social and Economic Vulnerability to Disasters
- A Review of the Key Legal dynamics of Chinese Military Involvement in Domestic Disaster Relief (MI/DDR)
- Testing Social Vulnerability Theory: A Quantitative Study of Hurricane Katrina's Perceived Impact on Residents living in FEMA Designated Disaster Areas
- If You Can't Trust, Stick to Hierarchy: Structure and Trust as Contingency Factors in Threat Assessment Contexts
- Regional Disaster Risk: Assessment and Mitigation Concepts in an All-Hazards Context
- Evacuation Patterns of Ethnic Groups Under Fire
- Risk Informed Decision Framework for Integrated Evaluation of Countermeasures against CBRN Threats
- The Influence of Politics on Federal Disaster Declaration Decision Delays
- Cross-Sectoral Scanning of Critical Infrastructures: from Functional Differences to Policy-Relevant Similarities
- Identifying Communication Strategies in Cases of Domestic Terrorism: Applying Cultural Context to the Fort Hood Shooting
- The Evolving Role of the Public Information Officer: An Examination of Social Media in Emergency Management
- Structural Dynamics of Organizations during the Evolution of Interorganizational Networks in Disaster Response
- Investigating the Roots of Crisis Management Studies and Outlining Future Trajectories for the Field
- The Multiplicity of Actors Involved in Securing America's Food Imports
- Homeland Security as International Security? The Case for International Relations as Disciplinary Model
- Challenges for Multi-sector Organizations in Tracking and Sheltering Registered Sex Offenders in Disasters
- Communicating H1N1 Risk to College Students: A Regional Cross-Sectional Survey Study
- Cultural Influence on the Implementation of Incident Command System for Emergency Management of Natural Disasters
- Influencing Factors of Emergency Information Spreading in Online Social Networks: A Simulation Approach
- Responding in Crises: A Comparative Analysis of Disaster Responses between Mainland China and Taiwan
- Updating the National Planning Scenarios: Using Wicked Problems and Capability-Based Planning Concepts for Homeland Security
- The 'Titanic Syndrome': Risk and Crisis Management on the Costa Concordia
- Book Reviews
- Review of Freedom and Order: How Democratic Governments Restrict Civil Liberties after Terrorist Attacks - and Why Sometimes They Don't
- Review of National Security Reform: How Commissions Can Drive Change During Crises
- Review of The Four Stages of Highly Effective Crisis Management
- Communication/News
- Public Health's Role in Understanding Community Resilience
- Identifying Factors that Influence Terrorist Decisions and Target Selection
- Opinion
- Emerging Dangers from Direct Botulinum Access and Use
- Failing to Establish a Unified Command in Louisiana During Hurricane Katrina
Articles in the same Issue
- Research Article
- Use of Small-Scale Test Data to Enhance Fire-Related Threat, Vulnerability, Consequence and Risk Assessment for Passenger Rail Vehicles
- Strategic Cyber Defense: Which Way Forward?
- Effect of a Marketing Program on Freshman Student Registration for an Emergency Notification System
- Strategic uses of Lessons for Building Collaborative Emergency Management System: Comparative Analysis of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Gustav Response Systems
- The Relationship between Turkey's Provinces' Development Levels and Social and Economic Vulnerability to Disasters
- A Review of the Key Legal dynamics of Chinese Military Involvement in Domestic Disaster Relief (MI/DDR)
- Testing Social Vulnerability Theory: A Quantitative Study of Hurricane Katrina's Perceived Impact on Residents living in FEMA Designated Disaster Areas
- If You Can't Trust, Stick to Hierarchy: Structure and Trust as Contingency Factors in Threat Assessment Contexts
- Regional Disaster Risk: Assessment and Mitigation Concepts in an All-Hazards Context
- Evacuation Patterns of Ethnic Groups Under Fire
- Risk Informed Decision Framework for Integrated Evaluation of Countermeasures against CBRN Threats
- The Influence of Politics on Federal Disaster Declaration Decision Delays
- Cross-Sectoral Scanning of Critical Infrastructures: from Functional Differences to Policy-Relevant Similarities
- Identifying Communication Strategies in Cases of Domestic Terrorism: Applying Cultural Context to the Fort Hood Shooting
- The Evolving Role of the Public Information Officer: An Examination of Social Media in Emergency Management
- Structural Dynamics of Organizations during the Evolution of Interorganizational Networks in Disaster Response
- Investigating the Roots of Crisis Management Studies and Outlining Future Trajectories for the Field
- The Multiplicity of Actors Involved in Securing America's Food Imports
- Homeland Security as International Security? The Case for International Relations as Disciplinary Model
- Challenges for Multi-sector Organizations in Tracking and Sheltering Registered Sex Offenders in Disasters
- Communicating H1N1 Risk to College Students: A Regional Cross-Sectional Survey Study
- Cultural Influence on the Implementation of Incident Command System for Emergency Management of Natural Disasters
- Influencing Factors of Emergency Information Spreading in Online Social Networks: A Simulation Approach
- Responding in Crises: A Comparative Analysis of Disaster Responses between Mainland China and Taiwan
- Updating the National Planning Scenarios: Using Wicked Problems and Capability-Based Planning Concepts for Homeland Security
- The 'Titanic Syndrome': Risk and Crisis Management on the Costa Concordia
- Book Reviews
- Review of Freedom and Order: How Democratic Governments Restrict Civil Liberties after Terrorist Attacks - and Why Sometimes They Don't
- Review of National Security Reform: How Commissions Can Drive Change During Crises
- Review of The Four Stages of Highly Effective Crisis Management
- Communication/News
- Public Health's Role in Understanding Community Resilience
- Identifying Factors that Influence Terrorist Decisions and Target Selection
- Opinion
- Emerging Dangers from Direct Botulinum Access and Use
- Failing to Establish a Unified Command in Louisiana During Hurricane Katrina