Conceptualizing trust with cultural perspective in international business operations

Abstract

Purpose

The growing international landscape of business has underlined the significance of multiculturalism and the novel challenges it brings to business implementation. The purpose of this paper is to draw attention of the readers toward how trust can be conceptualized and how trust-building process is affected in global business environments where more and more projects and businesses come into operation.

Design/methodology/approach

This research employs intensive literature review to conceptualize trust and develop a model of culture effects for trust building in global business environment. However, this study is presently explanatory in nature because no empirical evidence is provided.

Findings

Culture is a significant factor in building trust among global project stakeholders for the reason that trust is vital for developing a well-functioning long-term business relationship. The study highlighted that cultural differences among project teams can cause conflict, misunderstanding, and poor project performance.

Research limitations/implications

Future empirical research should investigate various scenarios, types of projects, cultures, and countries. Cultural issues are pretty sensitive, which have immediate association with trust-building process among international project stakeholders. Diminutive systematic research has been done on the cultural effects for trust building in international business context. The probe of how culture affects trust building efforts in global business environments remains unrequited.

Originality/value

This study adds value by creating awareness in the research community for undertaking a detailed and comprehensive research on this topic, and because of its originality, it serves as a foundation for future studies.

Citation

Ajmal, M., Helo, P. and Kassem, R. (2017), "Conceptualizing trust with cultural perspective in international business operations", Benchmarking: An International Journal, Vol. 24 No. 4, pp. 1099-1118. https://doi.org/10.1108/BIJ-06-2016-0101