Communicating Trust in Multicultural Teams: A case Study of International Organisations in Saudi Arabia


Volume 5, Issue 6
Haila Ibrahim Altwaian

Published online: 27 December 2019
Article Views: 30

Abstract

Trust among team members is a critical factor in increasing the team performance and productivity of multicultural teams. Multinational companies operating in the Middle East, particularly in Saudi Arabia, attract a workforce from various countries, such as the U.S, Europe, Asia, and Arab countries. Such companies can struggle to cope with establishing trust within team members belonging to different socio-cultural backgrounds, which may lead to conflict and deteriorating relations. This theoretical paper embarks upon these issues in multicultural teams and presents a model of perceived trust among multicultural teams in Saudi Arabia. The present paper used a qualitative approach to build the perception of trust framework; the interviews were carried out with 38 participants. The study concludes that there are differences in trust perception and development, such as those found present in European culture and Arabian culture. Europeans tend to emphasise perceptions such as ability and reliability, which focus more on their experience, but those from an Arabian culture tend to stress security, openness, and loyalty perceptions, focusing more on their cultural traditions or social backgrounds. Thus, the differences in the perceptions of trust have a major influence on the overall performance of multicultural organisations. These differences may have major implications in leading to divisions within the workforce, and it is important to find ways of dealing with these differences.

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To Cite this article

Altwaian, H. I. (2019). Communicating trust in multicultural teams: A case study of international organisations in Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Business and Administrative Studies, 5(6), 352-365. doi: https://dx.doi.org/10.20469/ijbas.5.10005-6