Trustworthiness and Information Disclosure Among Judicial Governmental Agencies

Abstract

Trust between members of highly information driven governmental agencies is crucial to ensure efficient information transfer. This article seeks to understand better the link between perceived trustworthiness of boundary spanners and the willingness to exchange information between them. Semistructured interviews with professionals involved in decision making on judicial youth care were conducted and analyzed through thematic analysis. Trustworthiness was divided into the known dimensions of ability, benevolence, and integrity, and information exchange was divided into mandatory, optional, and prohibited information exchange. The results show that the willingness to share mandatory information by the providing boundary spanner could increase when the ability of the receiving boundary spanner is well perceived, while the willingness to share optional information is influenced by the perceived benevolence, and the willingness to share prohibited information depends on the perceived integrity. The receiving boundary spanner is similarly able to assess the different dimensions of trustworthiness of the providing boundary spanner when receiving different types of information. This will influence their future willingness to reciprocate the information exchange.

Keywords:

• interorganizational information sharing
• networks
• trustworthiness

Notes

1 OCJ = Youth Care Support Center (Ondersteuningscentrum jeugdzorg); VK = Confidential Center on Child Abuse and Neglect (Vertrouwenscentrum kindermishandeling); SDJ = Social Service for Judicial Youth Care (Sociale dienst gerechtelijke jeugdhulp).

2 Four respondents taking part early on in the study participated again later to be interviewed on newly defined aspects, which means they participated in two interviews.