Enriching interpersonal cross-cultural trust literature with acculturation theory, this explorative, qualitative study reveals why, how and under which circumstances (collectivist) Chinese subordinates either succeed or fail in forming and developing trust to their (individualist) German supervisors. The analysis is based on 95 semi-structured interviews with Chinese subordinates of German supervisors and German supervisors of Chinese subordinates both in China and in Germany. This study uncovers a three phase process model (comprising the contact, disillusion and acculturation phase), ultimately resulting in either establishment or erosion of trust. The findings disclose that central propositions of seminal (Western) trust concepts are turned upside down, once the focus moves from an exclusively Western cultural setting to one that also includes East Asian contexts. As such, this study exposes important boundary conditions of influential trust concepts and contributes to research on the juxtaposition of Western and Eastern management concepts.

Professor Markus Pudelko is Director of the Department of International Business at Tübingen University School of Business and Economics and Vice Dean as well as Associate Dean for International Affairs of the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences.
He earned Master degrees in Business Studies (University of Cologne), Economics (Sorbonne University) and International Management (Community of European Management Schools - CEMS) and a PhD (University of Cologne).

Before joining Tübingen University, he worked for eight years for the University of Edinburgh Business School. For longer-term research purposes he visits frequently other universities, such as Columbia University, Doshisha University, Fudan University, IESE, Korea University, Melbourne University, Peking University, San José State University, Sophia University, Stellenbosch University, Umea University, Vaasa University and Waseda University.

His current research is on headquarters-subsidiary relationships, multinational teams, the impact of language on international business, trust, international and comparative HRM and cross-cultural management. He has published on these topics in books, book chapters and journals such as Academy of Management Journal, Journal of International Business Studies, Human Resource Management, Leadership Quarterly, Long Range Planning, Journal of World Business, Organizational Dynamics and International Journal of Human Resource Management. He received several research awards, among others by the Academy of Management and the Academy of International Business.