Identity Construction and Trust Building in Developing International Collaborations

The authors argue that international collaborations are both vehicles for wider strategic change and development and contexts within which individuals pursue a process of development and change to move their separate organizations toward a functioning relationship. The authors explore two related as...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of applied behavioral science 2009-06, Vol.45 (2), p.186-211
Main Authors: Zhang, Ying, Huxham, Chris
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitudes
Buildings
Case studies
Characters
Collaboration
Construction
Cooperation
Deference
Development Strategies
Group identity
Identity
International collaboration
Trust
Vehicles
Virtual offices
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The authors argue that international collaborations are both vehicles for wider strategic change and development and contexts within which individuals pursue a process of development and change to move their separate organizations toward a functioning relationship. The authors explore two related aspects—trust building and identity construction—of that internal process of change and development, which, if successful, in turn allow the wider, strategic developments to progress. Drawing on an analysis of a case study of Sino—Australian business collaboration, the authors introduce three concepts relating to identity construction—identity characters, deference action, and identity fit—and show how they relate to a process in which identity—individual and collective—is constantly constructed and reconstructed in formal and informal settings during the trust building process. They argue that trusting attitudes can be reinforced through recognition of deference action and adaptation of identity to fit with collaboration circumstances.
ISSN:0021-8863
1552-6879
DOI:10.1177/0021886309333327