182 Global Ethics for Leadership
concerned about my interests or the interests of the whole”^180. Hosmer
adds to this by pointing out that trustees “clearly go beyond a negative
promise not to harm the interest of the other party; they seem to provide
a positive guarantee that the rights and interests of the other party will be
included in the final outcome”^181.
In the literature on trust, concepts such as ‘loyalty’, ‘concern’,
‘goodwill’, ‘altruism’ and ‘benevolence’ all feature as important facilita-
tors of trustworthiness. Mayer et al. (1995) regard benevolence as an
antecedent of trust finding support from Stickland and Solomon who
also make reference to benevolence. Engelbrecht and Cloete (2000),
who tested Mayer et al.’s model of trust, equally found empirical sup-
port to regard benevolence as a facilitator of trust^182.
13.5 Why Bother about Trust?
Now that a basic understanding has been established about trust and
the factors that will determine how trustworthy one will be perceived,
the question still remains: Why bother about trust? There are a number
of compelling reasons for attending to trust—both on a personal and
organisational level - which will be discussed next.
- Distrust is Expensive
The cost of distrust is high both with regard to internal and external
stakeholders. Where intra-organisational trust prevails, an organisation
can rely on the loyalty and care of its employees. Where trust has been
violated and employees feel betrayed they will look for opportunities for
revenge or even sabotage. Employees can no longer be relied upon to act
in the best interests of the organisation. Instead constant monitoring and
all kinds of control mechanisms have to be introduced to ensure that
180
181 1996:267^
182 1995:392^
See also Bews & Rossouw, 2002