Trust in Relational Contracts: a theoretical study

Abstract This article aims to contribute to a better understanding of trust within organizations in order to expand and refine theoretical constructs. Trust is approached in the economic perspective. The study seeks to understand the role of trust in the informal coordination of relational contracts. Trust is approached as a critical element to the execution of specific organizational tasks and its role as a mediator of organizational performance is observed. Finally, an analytical model is proposed and the study concludes that trust is a central element to better understand relational contracts and that investments adopting a trust-based management style should observe the specific context and the nature of the organizational tasks.