Trust, owner rights, employee rights and firm performance

Abstract

This is a study of variations in trust relationships according to institutional setting. A wide body of comparative institutional literature within economics and finance engages with trust. However, as most of this literature uses macro-level data and/or stylistic ideal types, it normally neglects intra-firm trust. This paper redresses this lacuna by using both macro-level data and comparative firm-level evidence. We found that both country trust and firm trust increase firm performance, but that there is a trade-off between the two as high levels of both reduce performance. Finally, both employee rights and investor rights are negatively correlated with country trust.