The ‘Trust Relations in Intercultural Management’ (TRIM) research project: methodology, design, sample

To answer this question was the purpose of the TRIM study which examined intercultural trust creation processes using the example of German-French business collaboration.

Interviews with German and French managers

Three perspectives on trust

The TRIM study is based on 100 hour-long interviews with German and French upper and middle class executives from European multinational companies. The participating companies represent the sectors of aeronautics, nutrition and financial services, and all of them have significant activities in Germany and France. 

The interviewees reported experiences from relationships with colleagues and business partners that influenced the development of trust. Three perspectives on trust were distinguished: The managers, first, described experiences which positively fostered the development of trust. Second, they reported experiences which led to a loss of trust. Third, they explained their own favourite trust-building measures. 

Research design

TRIM 2x2 control group design

The TRIM study used a 2x2 control group design: While half of the German interviewees reported on their collaboration with French colleagues or business partners, the other half referred to relationships with other German managers. Thus we could compare the standard trust development in the German (French) culture with trust development in an intercultural context.

Sample

Control of confounding variables

Across all subgroups we controlled for corporate culture, sex and age class, in order to assure the comparability of the groups as for those variables. 

Interviewees in the ‘bi-cultural groups’ were very experienced in intercultural management. At the time of the interview they had, on average, 14.2 years of working experience in German-French management, and most of them had intercultural contact on a daily basis.