Trust inside a political organization : a case study of the Finnish Centre Party parliamentary group

Abstract

This thesis examined trust inside a political organization as well the relation between trust and creativity. The thesis is a case study of the Finnish Centre Party Parliamentary Group. The research sought answers for the questions how professional politicians (members of the parliament) experience trust inside the party they are members of, and whether trust in a political organization brings added value for the organization. The focus was on the formation process of trust and factors grounded in this process. The role of trust for creativity was also of interest.

Trust was studied via experiences and expectations of professional politicians. The empirical survey was sent to the Finnish Centre Party Parliamentary Group. A semi-structured questionnaire in which qualitative and quantitative elements were combined was used.

The thesis concluded that trust inside a political organization is a more complicated phenomenon than the previous theory suggests. Inside a political organization trust occurs in a cultural context where normative rules support or hinder trust. It was found that trust formation inside a political organization includes six different aspects: promise keeping; interaction and influencing; actions of the party executives; values, ideology and content of the politics; history and tradition; openness and sincerity. In other words, trust is grounded in an individual’s personality, life experiences, cultural background, education and other socio-economical factors. Trust forms from communal but also from individual experiences.

The empirical study revealed also six different key factors for party success: regeneration, future orientation; values, ideology, content of the politics, working with the party agenda; creativity, enthusiasm; trustworthiness, credibility; team spirit, solidarity; party actors.

This thesis emphasizes also the importance of creativity inside a political organization. In politics ability to generate new initiatives and innovative solutions for societal challenges is crucial, and moreover, political power is linked to this ability. It was found that ideal conditions for trust require reasonable or healthy trust: neither distrust nor faith increase creativity.