Be yourself or adapt yourself? Authenticity, self-monitoring, behavioural integrity, and trust. Issue 1 (2nd January 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Nguyen, Brenda; Leroy, Hannes; Gill, Carol; Simons, Tony
• Is Part Of: Journal of trust research. Volume 12:Issue 1(2022)
• Page Start: 24
• Page End: 42
• Publication Date: 2022-01-02
• Subjects: Authenticity -- self-monitoring -- behavioural integrity -- and trust; Organizational behavior -- Periodicals; Interpersonal relations -- Periodicals; Trust -- Periodicals; Interpersonal relations; Organizational behavior; Trust; Periodicals; 302.3
• DOI: 10.1080/21515581.2022.2093211
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2151-5581

Abstract

Abstract : Prior work has offered good arguments to trust both authentic and self-monitoring individuals, yet these two constructs have been described as incompatible and even opposite. This tension raises the question of which strategy will best build trust: Be yourself or adapt yourself? Informed by theory on private and public selves at work, this paper argues that both self-monitoring and authenticity behaviours foster trust, but only when not accompanied by the other behaviour. While actors can combine authenticity and self-monitoring in their self-concept, observers see this combination as lacking behavioural integrity (i.e. word-deed misalignment), thus reducing trust. We test these relationships in a time-lagged, multi-source survey study with project teams. Our results support the hypothesis and demonstrate that behavioural integrity mediates the interaction between authenticity and self-monitoring on perceptions of trust. We discuss the implications of our findings for the development and implementation of effective trust-building strategies.