Distrust in the Balance: The Emergence and Development of Intergroup Distrust in a Court of Law

Despite recent attention to trust, comparatively little is known about distrust as distinct from trust. In this paper, we drew on case study data of a reorganized court of law, where intergroup distrust had grown between judges and administrators, to develop a dynamic theory of distrust. We used insights from the literatures on distrust, conflict escalation, and professional–organization relations to guide the analysis of our case data. Our...