Network roles and the dynamics of interorganizational trust

Using a network approach to frame the phenomenon of interorganizational collaboration, this paper argues that network theory positing a linear correlation between the experience two actors have had with one another and the amount of trust that exists in their relationship fails to account for the effect of shifts in context which alter role relationships. Building on ethnographic data gathered from the early stages of a global product development effort, trust is shown to be the variable outcome of the structuration of 'systemness,' a concept Giddens employs to characterize levels of social and system integration between actors. Specifically, systemness is disrupted when shifts in context require the organizations in a network to identify and adopt new roles relative to one another. Enacting the new roles through common routines and other reciprocal practices serves to redevelop systemness, thereby reestablishing trust. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of how a structuration theory-based understanding of interorganizational trust might best be studied empirically.