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This study aims to investigate the relationship between cooperative and competitive behavioral tendencies and trust of coworkers in organizations. Two main hypotheses were developed. The first hypothesis was that cooperativeness and trust in coworkers is positively correlated. The second hypothesis was that competitiveness and trust in coworkers is negatively correlated.

The sample was 442 Turkish tourism sector employees in a labor-intensive industry. Two scales were used to measure trust in coworkers and cooperativeness/competitiveness. A hierarchical regression analysis was performed to understand how individuals' behavioral tendency affects their coworkers' trust in them.

The findings strongly supported the first hypothesis, in that cooperativeness was positively correlated with trust in coworkers. The second hypothesis was only partially supported because there was no significant relationship between competitiveness and the competency and trustworthiness dimensions of trust. Unselfishness aspect of trust, however, was negatively correlated with competitiveness.

The main contribution of this study is to show that employee cooperativeness and competitiveness can affect trust in coworker relations. However, the measurement of competitiveness and cooperativeness measurement had limitations due to differences in the culture-specific meanings of cooperation and competition. Future research employing mixed methods research is needed to further explain the content of the two tendencies and the relationship between the concepts.

The literature on trust and employee relations tends to focus more on the issue of trust between managers and subordinates while neglecting the complex and multifaceted structure of trust in employee–employer relations. However, new working forms mean that horizontal relations are increasingly important. Therefore, more research is needed to address the tendencies and structures that affect trust in coworkers. This study draws attention to the potential role of cooperative and competitive behaviors in trust in horizontal employee relations.

The purpose of this study is to explore workplace friendship in hospitality organizations and to develop an appropriate scale that combines qualitative and quantitative methods.

A mixed-methods design was selected to capitalize on the strength of both qualitative and quantitative approaches to reveal robust findings. First, in-depth interviews were carried out to determine the forms of workplace friendship. Second, an instrument was developed on the basis of the interviews, and 6 factors were extracted from exploratory factor analysis with 507 Samples-1. Third, confirmatory factor analysis with 507 Samples-2 was performed to identify the validity of the workplace friendship scale.

A 65-item, six-factor workplace friendship scale was developed. The six dimensions are trustworthiness, competency, having someone’s back, value-life interest similarity, caring personal relationships and socio-cultural similarity.

The sampling approach may limit the generalizability of the study findings as the data were collected from Turkish employees in Turkey. Cultural differences in individual relations may affect individual approaches to workplace friendship. Therefore, future cross-cultural research with samples from different populations and workplaces would be useful to explore similarities and differences with the findings of this study and to better understand the intricate structure of friendship.

This study contributes a reliable and valid measurement scale to address workplace friendship hospitality organizations.