ALFRED P . SLOAN SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT Trust ,

The interpersonal trust of 296 Brazilian development bankers was related to indicators of cultural modernism, satisfaction with supervisory behaviors, and individual reactions to different organizational climates. Contrary to theories which associate trust with national "culture" or "modernism", the Brazilian bankers scored higher on a four-item trust scale than Peruvian white-collar workers, and similar to American college students. Complex relationships between trust and cultural characteristics emerged, with high relative socio-economic status (measured by level in organization) the best predictor of trust. Correlations between some supervisory behaviors and subordinate satisfaction with supervision varied by trust group. Banks with participative as opposed to authoritarian climates v/ere perceived as more effective by both low and high trust groups. Both high trust and participative climates predicted greater individual involvement and integration into work group and organization. Trust was concluded to be a promising variable for examining individual and organizational behavior in a cultural context.