Business Research Topic: The Effect of the Perceived Importance of Trust Among Business Leaders on Performance

For my Business Research Methods module i have been asked to complete a mind map around my chosen research topic. My research topic is as follows:

Title: The Effect of the Perceived Importance of Trust Among Business Leaders on Performance

Research Objectives: To define a scale of Trust. To look at the correlation of business leaders views and company financial performance.  To look at the correlation of business leaders views and company ethics. To look at business leader views and the way this in turns affects view of them. 

Research Questions: Do Leaders Views on Trust Enable Them to Achieve Better Results for the Business the Run?

Research Context: I will determine the importance of trust to business leaders through questionnaires. The businesses that these leaders run will then be measured against conventional financial performance metrics, ethical measures such as environmental impact and popular modern day social/ethic issues such as diversity and gender pay gaps.

I have chose to look into Trust, Business Performance and Social Implications. The reason for these subjects are as follows:

Trust: Trust is a very subjective construct. There are many definitions for trust, before you even start to try and quantify it. There is also how to determine if somebody believes if trust is important. Ask almost anybody if trust is important and they will say "yes, of course." People do things that lead them to not be trustworthy, or like people who are not. Either consciously or unconsciously, people do not always hold trust in high regards - this is the characteristic i would like to quantify. 

Business Performance: What makes a business successful? Not what actions that take place but what figures do they release that make somebody say that it is a successful business. Generally speaking, most people say it is down to income: A company that makes the most money is successful. This does not account for competitive markets where making a lot of money isnt as important as beating a competitor. Another example is start-ups, where growing a share price is also very important.

Social Implications: More and more often business is becoming aware of its social impact. Consumers most definitely are. Social stories are making the news in business, whether it is the #metoo scandal or the gender pay gap. Companies are being scrutinised on their social practices more often and this is changing the business landscape.