Boarding the Aircraft: Trust Development Amongst Negotiators of a Complex Merger

Michel Lander (1) , Linda Kooning

1 GREGH - Groupement de Recherche et d'Etudes en Gestion à HEC

We explore trust development in the context of an international merger negotiation. Based on in-depth interviews with chief negotiators of the Air France- KLM merger, we contribute to existing theory by showing that trust develops in three interrelated domains: personal, process, and outcome. Progressively, trust develops in all domains on the basis of antecedents that differ between phases and domains. Distinguishing between different domains facilitates analysis of trust asymmetry and the coexistence of trust and distrust, as well as the influence of trust in interorganizational relationships.

Mots clés: M&A; negotiations; process study; trust

Domaines: Management des ressources humaines

Michel Lander, Linda Kooning. Boarding the Aircraft: Trust Development Amongst Negotiators of a Complex Merger. Journal of Management Studies, 2013, 50 (1), pp.1-30. ⟨10.1111/j.1467-6486.2012.01084.x⟩. ⟨hal-00772063⟩