TrustLAB: Translates – Speaking Up to the Boss: How Trust Shapes Voice Behaviour in Family Firms

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Introduction:

Strategic decisions play a critical role in shaping an organisation’s future — determining its direction, guiding how resources are allocated, and influencing long-term success. These decisions are often high-stakes and irreversible, which makes the input of the top management team (TMT) especially valuable. However, not all TMT members feel comfortable voicing concerns or offering differing viewpoints to their CEO. While some readily speak up, others choose to remain silent. What drives this difference?

In our research, we explore a critical but often overlooked factor: trust. Specifically, we examine how two aspects of trust dynamics — TMT members’ perceptions of the CEO’s trustworthiness, and their own sense of feeling trusted — influence whether they feel comfortable sharing their thoughts openly. This dynamic is especially important in family firms, where the personal and professional are deeply intertwined.

Family firms play a significant role in the global economy, and understanding how trust plays out between family and nonfamily executives is key to improving team dynamics and decision-making. Our findings highlight why trust isn’t just a “nice to have” — it’s essential for fostering open communication at the top.

Methodology:

To explore these dynamics, we conducted a multi-respondent survey involving CEOs and top management team members from family firms. We focused on two key questions: First, how do perceptions of a CEO’s trustworthiness — and TMT members’ feelings of being trusted by the CEO — influence whether they speak up? Second, does the nature of the relationship between family and non-family members affect this dynamic?

We only included firms where responses were provided by the CEO, one family TMT member, and one non-family TMT member. Our final sample included 237 individuals across 79 family firms.

Key Insights from the Study

Our research uncovered several important insights into how trust dynamics shape open communication within top teams in family firms:

CEO Benevolence Encourages Open Communication: TMT members are more likely to speak up when they perceive their CEO as caring and supportive. Interestingly, perceptions of the CEO’s integrity had no significant impact on whether team members voiced their thoughts and opinions.

The Surprising Impact of CEO Ability: Contrary to expectations, TMT members were more likely to speak up when they viewed their CEO as less capable. This suggests that when a leader is seen as highly competent, team members may hesitate to challenge them or offer alternative views.

Trust Matters, But Not All Trust is Equal: Feeling trusted by the CEO encourages voice, but the type of trust matters. When TMT members feel relied upon for their expertise, they are more inclined to speak up. However, trust based on openness or personal disclosure didn’t have the same effect.

Family vs. Non-Family Dynamics: When it comes to speaking up, non-family TMT members are more influenced by perceptions of CEO trustworthiness and feeling trusted than their family-member counterparts. The reasoning for this may be that family TMT members will speak up regardless of whether they believe the CEO is trustworthy, perhaps out of an obligation to the firm or the family.

Speaking Up Pays Off: CEOs tend to rate TMT members who express their ideas and concerns as stronger performers, reinforcing the value of fostering a culture where open communication is encouraged and rewarded.

Conclusion:

Our study highlights how trust shapes open communication at the top of family firms. Perceived CEO benevolence and feeling trusted—especially through feeling relied upon—encourage TMT members to speak up. Surprisingly, high CEO ability can actually discourage voice, as team members may hesitate to challenge highly competent leaders.

These effects are stronger for non-family executives, while family members may feel compelled to speak up regardless of trust dynamics.

For family firm leaders, the message is clear: showing care and placing trust in your team’s expertise can foster open dialogue, strengthen decision-making, and enhance performance perceptions.

Read the full paper here.

Author: Dr Catherine Faherty, Assistant Professor of Enterprise at Dublin City University Business School