Trust in Organizations: An Islamic Perspective

Abstract

Recent changes in the overall global business atmosphere, for example, opening of economies, increase in exchange relations, volatility of the business environment, innovative products and services, rapidly changing markets, and knowledge-based firms and information-based systems all demand quick sharing of quite sensitive information. This swift sharing of sensitive information is a major source of competitive advantage in today’s age and is not possible without trustworthy relationships of top management with external as well as internal customers (employees) of a business. Islam is the second biggest religion in the world with over 1/4th of the world’s population as its followers. Where traditional literature believes that long-term relationships result in trust development, Islam considers that trust development results in building and maintaining long-term relationships. This chapter is specifically meant to highlight the role of trust from an Islamic perspective in a leader-followers relationship as well as a leader-customers relationship.