Financial Information Engendering Trust in Social Partnership

ABSTRACT Financial tools and information have been utilized in the implementation of government plans, strategies, and policies, including collective bargaining between unions, government, and employers. While a small number of studies have examined the use of financial information in collective bargaining at the firm level, little is known about its role at the social partnership level. This paper contributes an empirically and theoretically informed study of the Irish social partnership era (1987–2010). Drawing on the work of Bentzen on trust as a theoretical lens, this paper explores how social partners used financial information and the relationship between trust in financial information and trust in collective bargaining in a social partnership context. The paper advances an understanding of trust by demonstrating how financial information disclosure helps build institutional trust in the collective bargaining process over time in a novel context.