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Socialization and Trust in Work Groups

Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, cslewis+{at}pitt.edu

John M. Levine

Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh

Several theoretical analyses of trust in organizations have been offered, but the social context in which that trust operates is often ignored. Our analysis examines trust in work groups, with a focus on changes in such groups over time. Socialization is an important form of temporal change in work groups (Moreland & Levine, 2000). Workers move into and out of these groups over time, so most groups contain people in different membership phases. We are intrigued by the issues of trust that can arise for full members of groups with new or marginal members. One such issue is how much a group’s full members can trust its new and marginal members, who belong to the group, but are not fully accepted by it. A related issue is how much full members can trust each other around any new or marginal members, whose thoughts, feelings, and behavior must be carefully monitored and shaped before they gain (or regain) the group’s acceptance. After analyzing both of these issues in some detail, we close by identifying several other issues of trust that can arise in work groups as they change over time.

Key Words: group processes • marginal members • newcomers • socialization • teams • trust • work groups

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