How does its setting influence trust in an organization? Baer and colleagues set out to answer that question. They “conducted two studies examining how the ‘look and feel’ of an organization shapes newcomers’ trust in that organization…we examined the effects of situational normality – the degree to which the work setting appears customary, with everything in proper order. We then introduced the construct of situational aesthetics – the degree to which the work setting has a pleasing and attractive appearance. A field study of new accountants revealed that situational normality and situational aesthetics had indirect effects on trust through perceived trustworthiness…We then replicated those trustworthiness findings in a laboratory setting…our results suggest that newcomer trust formation may be shaped by aspects of the work setting that have been heretofore ignored by trust scholars.”
Michael Baer, Lisa van der Werff, Jason Colquitt, Jessica Rodell, Kate Zipay, and Finian Buckley. “Trusting the “Look and Feel’: Situational Normality, Situational Aesthetics, and the Perceived Trustworthiness of Organizations.” Academy of Management Journal, in press, https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2016.0248
Sally Augustin, PhD,a cognitive scientist, is the editor of Research Design Connections (www.researchdesignconnections.com), a monthly subscription newsletter and free daily blog, where recent and classic research in the social, design, and physical sciences that can inform designers’ work are presented in straightforward language. Readers learn about the latest research findings immediately, before they’re available elsewhere. Sally, who is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, is also the author of Place Advantage: Applied Psychology for Interior Architecture (Wiley, 2009) and, with Cindy Coleman, The Designer’s Guide to Doing Research: Applying Knowledge to Inform Design (Wiley, 2012). She is a principal at Design With Science (www.designwithscience.com) and can be reached at sallyaugustin@designwithscience.com.