THE ANTECEDENTS OF TRUST BETWEEN A TECHNOLOGY SERVICE PROVIDER AND ITS STAKEHOLDERS

Abstract

There is an intense focus in business today on digital transformation, with technology departments as a key enabler. In a large organization, a trusting relationship between business stakeholders and their technology department is critical to enable the delivery of their strategic imperatives. This doctoral dissertation details the findings of a quantitative research study conducted at Loblaw Companies Limited in the fall of 2020 to understand trustworthiness and fairness as key antecedents of a trusting relationship between the organization’s technology department (Loblaw Technology) and its business stakeholders. The study sets out to determine how closely that level of trust is connected to the level of satisfaction the stakeholders have in the outcomes Loblaw Technology delivers. The level of trust in Loblaw Technology from the perspective of its business stakeholders is a key measure of the value that the Loblaw Technology department produces for the organization, because trust facilitates the exchange relationships between Loblaw Technology and its business stakeholders and results in their satisfaction with outcomes delivered. This quantitative study examined the category-based trust relationship between individuals (business stakeholders) and a service department that supports them (Loblaw Technology) and explored the antecedents that affect trust as the Loblaw Technology department makes decisions and provides services to their business stakeholders. These antecedents include the three antecedents of trustworthiness: ability, benevolence, integrity, and the four elements of organizational justice and fairness experienced by the business stakeholders, i.e., distributive, procedural, interpersonal and informational justice. The most important positive antecedents of trust were found to be ability, integrity, and distributive justice, although issues with discriminant validity weaken the results of this study. Higher levels of trust are required for high levels of satisfaction, with satisfaction being a key indicator of the value that Loblaw Technology delivers to the organization. Understanding the strength of the relationships between the antecedents of trust enables the leadership of Loblaw Technology to build programs focused on the most important antecedents, which will foster improved trust with their business stakeholders, thus increasing the satisfaction in the delivery of key strategic technology enablers, increasing the value realized through Loblaw’s investments in technology.