The Relationship Between Interpersonal Trust, Commitment and Performance in Self-Managing Teams: The Australian Experience

Performance is a key concern for organisations in the rapidly changing global economy. Although both trust and the commitment of employees to work in an autonomous manner are often cited as being essential for effectiveness of self-managed teams, little is known on the effect of interpersonal trust on organisation commitment, and the consequences for team performance. A survey of 49 self-managing teams (239 individuals) was carried out in a manufacturing organisation to investigate the relationship between the dimensions of interpersonal trust, a number of commitment dimensions, and team performance. The analyses indicated that two thirds of interpersonal trust dimensions are positively related to the variables of organisational commitment. Moreover, the results showed that the effects of 'interpersonal trust' on team performance to a large extent are mediated by the intervening variables of organisational commitment.