Attributional sense‐making of distrust in professional service firms: Working in a coopetitive paradox

Abgeller, Neve, Saunders, Mark NK, Donnelly, Rory ORCID: 0000-0001-8424-2039 and Dobbins, Tony (2026) Attributional sense‐making of distrust in professional service firms: Working in a coopetitive paradox Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 99 (1). ISSN 0963-1798, 2044-8325

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Abstract

Abstract Distrust is an inevitable yet often overlooked feature of relationships in professional service firms (PSFs), where simultaneous demands to collaborate and compete produce a coopetitive paradox shaping everyday organizational life. Drawing on 50 in‐depth qualitative interviews using the critical incident technique, we examine how professionals attribute meaning to the development of distrust in their working relationships. The analysis identifies three recurring loci—readings of character and conduct (internal), signals from structures, processes, and cultures (external), and interactional cues in day‐to‐day exchanges (relational)—which often braid together into compound explanations for distrust that travel and endure. In high pressure, identity‐sensitive PSFs, coopetition heightens this braiding, making small ambiguities easier to read as self‐interest and harder to reverse. The study clarifies how distrust functions as an active, socially embedded process of meaning‐making and why it proves so durable in coopetitive settings.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	35 Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services, 3507 Strategy, Management and Organisational Behaviour
Divisions:	Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences > School of Management Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences > Faculty of Humanities & Social Sci (All T&R Staff) Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences > School of Management > Work, Organisation and Management (WOM) Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences > School of Management > School of Management (T&R Staff)
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	19 Jan 2026 11:51
Last Modified:	22 Jan 2026 23:07
DOI:	10.1111/joop.70086
Related Websites:	Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3196669
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