As the COVID-19 pandemic transformed workplaces worldwide, the adoption of remote work varied dramatically between regions and industries. A recent IZA discussion paper by Adam Gill and Oskar Nordström Skans identifies managerial trust as a crucial factor in this divergence.
The study finds a strong association between managers’ beliefs about whether employees can be trusted to work independently without direct oversight and the intensity of work-from-home (WFH) practices. To measure managerial trust, the researchers used survey data from the European Social Survey, focusing on managers’ responses to the question: “Do you think that most people would try to take advantage of you if they got the chance, or would they try to be fair?” Their answers were then linked to regional and occupational variations in WFH intensities.
The findings reveal that countries, regions, and industries where managers exhibited higher trust levels—such as the Nordic nations, Switzerland, and the Netherlands—were more likely to embrace remote work. In contrast, regions in Southern and Eastern Europe, including Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Slovakia, were slower to adopt remote work, reflecting lower levels of managerial trust.
This association holds even after controlling for other dimensions of societal trust and structural factors like broadband access, digital skills, and occupational types. The findings highlight that managerial trust is not merely a reflection of infrastructure or institutions—it is a key correlate of workplace autonomy.
Crucially, the pandemic amplified these dynamics. High-trust regions expanded WFH adoption during the crisis, while low-trust regions failed to “catch up,” reinforcing disparities. The study suggests that fostering managerial trust could unlock the full potential of remote work technologies and practices.