Trust in Distance Leadership: A Qualitative Study of the Leader-Employee Relationship at Blue Power Partners
Author
Koldsø, Sille Selma Hellerup
Term
4. term
Publication year
2026
Abstract
This thesis explores how trust is experienced and built in leader–employee relationships when collaboration primarily takes place at a distance. Using the global consultancy Blue Power Partners as an empirical setting, it conducts an exploratory qualitative study within a social constructivist framework, understanding trust as something created through interpretation and interaction rather than as an objective state. The empirical material consists of ten semi-structured interviews with three leaders and seven employees, all experienced in geographically dispersed working relationships. The interviews are analysed using Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis and interpreted through Mayer, Davis and Schoorman’s model of organisational trust, which defines trust as the willingness to be vulnerable based on perceptions of the other party’s ability, benevolence and integrity. The analysis is structured in three steps: leaders’ and employees’ perspectives are first examined separately and then brought together to show how trust emerges between them. The main finding is that trust in distance leadership is experienced asymmetrically: leaders regard trust as a prerequisite that is granted from the outset and maintained through autonomy and availability, whereas employees experience trust as an ongoing assessment grounded in everyday micro-actions that signal presence and attention. This asymmetry is understood as a structural feature of a relationship shaped by both hierarchy and physical distance. The thesis concludes that distance does not change what trust fundamentally is, but alters the conditions under which it must be built and maintained, and introduces the notion of distance employeeship to highlight employees’ active relational work as well as the role of organisational structures in enabling trust. As a qualitative single-case study, it does not offer statistically generalisable findings, but provides an in-depth understanding of how trust is lived and experienced in leader–employee relationships when physical co-presence is absent.
Dette speciale undersøger, hvordan tillid opleves og opbygges i relationen mellem leder og medarbejder, når samarbejdet primært foregår på afstand. Med afsæt i den globale konsulentvirksomhed Blue Power Partners gennemføres et eksplorativt, kvalitativt studie inden for en socialkonstruktivistisk ramme, hvor tillid forstås som noget, der skabes gennem fortolkning og interaktion snarere end som et fast objektivt forhold. Empirien består af ti semistrukturerede interviews med tre ledere og syv medarbejdere, alle med erfaring i geografisk spredte samarbejdsrelationer. Interviewene analyseres med Braun og Clarkes tematiske analyse og fortolkes gennem Mayer, Davis og Schoormans model for organisatorisk tillid, som definerer tillid som villigheden til at gøre sig sårbar på baggrund af oplevet evne, velvilje og integritet hos den anden part. Analysen er struktureret i tre trin: først undersøges lederes og medarbejderes perspektiver hver for sig, dernæst sammenholdes de for at belyse, hvordan tillid opstår mellem parterne. Specialets hovedfund er, at tillid under distanceledelse opleves asymmetrisk: Ledere ser tillid som en grundlæggende forudsætning, der gives fra start og vedligeholdes gennem autonomi og tilgængelighed, mens medarbejdere oplever tillid som en løbende vurdering, der afhænger af små, dagligdags handlinger, som signalerer nærvær og opmærksomhed. Denne asymmetri forstås som et strukturelt vilkår i en relation præget af både hierarki og fysisk afstand. Specialet konkluderer, at geografisk afstand ikke ændrer, hvad tillid grundlæggende er, men ændrer betingelserne for, hvordan den opbygges og opretholdes, og introducerer begrebet distancemedarbejderskab for at fremhæve medarbejdernes aktive rolle i relationelt arbejde samt betydningen af de organisatoriske rammer for tillidsdannelse. Som et kvalitativt single-case studie giver specialet ikke statistisk generaliserbar viden, men bidrager med en dybdegående forståelse af, hvordan tillid leves og erfares i leder-medarbejder-relationer uden fysisk nærhed.
[This abstract has been generated with the help of AI directly from the project full text]