Analyzing the Cognitive Foundations of Organizational Trust: Antecedents, Consequences, and Dynamics

Document Type : Research/Original/Regular

Authors

1 Department of Public Administration and Organizational Behavior, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

2 Department of Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

3 Department of Public Administration, Comparative Management and Development, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

10.22059/jscm.2025.397442.2601

Abstract

Trust has permeated almost all social aspects of human life, particularly in the heart of organizational interactions, to the extent that it has attracted significant interest from management thinkers as the glue that holds society together. In the intra-organizational and inter-organizational environment, organizational trust is an important facilitator of conflict management, emotional trust, correct perception, and behavioral uncertainty reduction through integrity, benevolence, capability, organizational justice, and connected and dependent factors. Organizational trust can increasingly increase organizational commitment, organizational identity and job satisfaction and lead to entrepreneurial behavior. This research has used 32 articles to provide a model of organizational trust, using the approach of cognitive science within the philosophy of meta-positivism and inductive-deductive approach, specifically through meta-combination. To analyze the data, the theme analysis method was employed using the reliability technique between two coders. The identified cognitive factors have been analyzed by 12 experts and specialists in Iran using a cognitive science approach with the ISM method and MICMAC analysis. Considering the small number and relatively long time interval of organizational studies based on cognitive sciences, especially the lack of studies in the field of organizational trust with a cognitive science approach, this article intends to enhance its role by identifying the antecedents and cognitive consequences of organizational trust, in order to contribute to the field of organizational science.

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References

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Social Capital Management
Volume 12, Issue 4
January 2026
Pages 337-353

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