Tiziana Gaito
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Item type:Publication, Shedding Light in the Dark: Distrust as a Distinct Concept in Stakeholder Relationships(2025-12); ; ; Sachs, SybilleIn response to calls for a more comprehensive understanding of stakeholder relationships, this study complements the well-established “bright side,” where trust enables value creation through shared interests and values, with the “dark side,” where conflicts and harmful behavior lead to negative outcomes in relationships between focal organizations and their stakeholders. To refine the boundary conditions of the dark side, we conceptualize distrust in stakeholder relationships and introduce stakeholder distrust, defined as the collective unwillingness of a focal organization to accept vulnerability, as a relational construct distinct from both stakeholder trust and suspicion. We develop a causal model of stakeholder distrust and outline several propositions regarding its antecedents and consequences. These distinctions, together with the causal model, (i) advance stakeholder examination, (ii) inform stakeholder engagement, and (iii) refine our understanding of the relational dynamics underlying stakeholder relationships. Collectively, they support a more nuanced examination of stakeholder relationships, facilitate the identification of early warning signals in ongoing interactions, and suggest how distrust can be addressed through stakeholder engagement practices, which include methods, tools, and routines that structure interactions with stakeholders. Accordingly, we advance theoretical understanding of stakeholder distrust while offering practical approaches to prevent and resolve conflicts and harmful behavior.Type:journal articleJournal:European Management JournalScopus© Citations 4 - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, A Case Study of Stakeholder Distrust Management in the Context of a Sustainability Scandal(2025-06-20); ; Sachs, SybilleThis paper addresses the growing interest in distrust as a distinct concept and its management in inter-organizational stakeholder relationships. Using a case study of an international organization facing stakeholder distrust after a sustainability scandal, we explore how distrust manifests and how stakeholder engagement aims, practices, and impacts mitigate it within multi-level inter-organizational dynamics (i.e., distrust management). Our study develops a process model based on three critical incidents, illustrating how distrust emerges and is managed. Our results contribute to the literature on distrust and stakeholder engagement research by providing rare empirical insights into distrust at the inter-organizational level and novel perspectives on stakeholder engagement’s multi-level dynamics in mitigating distrust, including its two components of value incongruence and malevolence.Type:conference paper - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, Rising from the Darkness: Transforming Intractable Conflicts through Stakeholder Engagement(2023)Stakeholder engagement scholars are paying increasing attention to the dark side of stakeholder engagement, where stakeholders tend to destroy rather than create value due to their negative engagement. Thereby, they quickly get trapped in intractable conflicts with stakeholder relationships based on the relational state of (dysfunctional) distrust. The transformation of these value-destroying conflicts is critical for stakeholders to return to value creation—the key purpose of stakeholder engagement. However, how intractable conflicts are transformed has received little attention in the stakeholder engagement literature. Drawing from intractable conflicts and organizational behavior research, I build a theoretical process model that describes the transformation of intractable conflicts along Lewin’s change model by allocating different relational states and engagement practices in his three steps. I extend stakeholder engagement theory by adding knowledge about (1) the relational state of distrust, in which constructive engagement is impaired, and suspicion, which is needed for facilitated engagement to transform stakeholder relationships into a desired direction; (2) the relational state of calculative trust that describes functional stakeholder relationships as a potentially desired relational state and precondition for building more communal relationships; (3) novel stakeholder engagement practices suitable for the three steps involved in the transformation process of intractable conflicts.Type:conference paper - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, Zielgerichtetes Stakeholder-Engagement - Wie die Implementierung gelingt(2023); Sybille SachsType:case review (law)Journal:zfo Zeitschrift Führung + Organisation - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, Distrust - The neglected construct in stakeholder relations(First International Network on Trust (FINT), 2022-03); ; Type:conference speech - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item type:Publication, Shedding Light in the Dark – Distrust as a Distinct Concept in Stakeholder Relationships(2023-05); ; Based on the call for an integrative view of the bright and dark sides of stakeholder relationships, we introduce the concept of stakeholder distrust. First, we enhance construct clarity by explaining why stakeholder distrust is a distinct concept and not merely the opposite of stakeholder trust, and by differentiating it from related constructs such as calculative trust and suspicion. This differentiation sharpens the boundary conditions of the dark side and sheds light on the possible grey zone between the dark and the bright side of stakeholder relationships. We then develop a casual stakeholder distrust model, whereby we elaborate on the most proximate antecedents of stakeholder distrust and how it manifests in distrust-induced cognitions, emotions, and behaviors. Our conceptualization of stakeholder distrust antecedents and consequences provides warning signals that guide stakeholder engagement on the dark side. Finally, we offer four specific directions for further research.Type:working paper