Horizontal trust among lecturers at the universities of applied sciences

Abstract

Purpose: Horizontal trust among lecturers at universities seems to be particularly unexplored in the literature. The main purpose of this paper is to fi ll in this gap and is an attempt to answer the question: how lecturers perceive, address and reconstruct trust in their teaching. Methodology: The data; narratives of lecturers, consists of told and written stories (N=23) collected in Finland, Hungary and the United Kingdom. Collecting multinational dataset is based on the European attempt of the harmonisation and internationalisation of education and on the cooperation of educational institutions. The narratives were analysed in two stages: first by narrative analysis and then by condensing textual data. Findings: The results argue that trust creates trusting atmosphere between lecturers. Without trust cooperation between lecturers creates tension and diff iculties. Trust creates welfare and good results for teaching. Without trust the lecturers cannot give their best to the students, colleagues and all in all to the university of the applied sciences. Trust makes it possible to change teaching methods and organisational structures at the universities of the applied sciences. Without trust working methods are difficult to develop. Trust contributes to good cooperation between lecturers and more positive results to develop academic education in Europe. Originality/value: The results of this paper are consistent with previous research, however they shed light in much more detail on horizontal trust at universities emphasizing, among others, the fact that trust impacts the organization’s success, and strengthens intra- and inter-organizational relationships.