Respect as an internal resource for organizations

Reciprocal respect can be viewed as a core value of organizational culture, which improves organizational effi ciency and effectiveness. The underlying idea is that respect nourishes and is nourished by trustworthiness and reputation, and these assets bind stakeholders’ behaviour (Barney and Hansen, 1994). So, relations based on respect optimize efforts to contribute to the success of the organization. From this point of view, respect is almost a synonym for trust, i.e. it has an instrumental value in helping to reduce the risks of opportunistic behaviour (Nooteboom, 2006a) but, while trust, trustworthiness and reputation lean on human behaviour (Lewicki and Bunker, 1996), respect implies the acceptation and the protection of someone or something on the basis of their own features, not necessarily after having estimated behaviour or utility. The paper proceeds as follows. Firstly, we examine the concept of respect and its linkages with trust and reputation. Secondly, after a literature review of behaviour-oriented and economic-oriented organizational studies, respect is described as a track indicator of organizational behaviour. Finally, attention will focus on the connection between respect and control mechanisms in organizations. In particular, on the basis of some empirical evidence, respect is considered as an internal control mechanism of organizational behaviour. Conclusions and implications for further research will end the paper.