How do leaders repair trust? An examination of trust repair during the UK expenses scandal

Abstract

For decades the importance of trust in leadership has been emphasised (Bowler & Karp, 2004; Burke, Sims, Lazzara, & Salas, 2007; Dirks & Ferrin, 2002; Liu, Siu, & Shi, 2010). Trust is central to effective leadership and understanding how to build and repair trust is considered a “critical management competency” (Lewicki & Bunker, 1996). Yet little empirical research has examined how leaders repair trust once it is broken (Dirks, Lewicki & Zaheer, 2009). The few trust repair studies conducted to date have been experimental in nature using undergraduate students and have decontextualised the trust breach and repair process (Gillespie & Dietz, 2009)