Dissertation The Evolution of Trust in the Relationship Between Investment Bank(er)s and Their Clients A Mergers and Acquisitions Perspective Anirban Ash Email:
[email protected] This doctoral thesis investigates the evolution of trust in investment bank(er)-client relationship in mergers and acquisitions by focusing on deals over EUR 1 billion. As sub-areas of research in- terest, this work explores the reasons responsible for the decline of trust in the research context, and also enquires if trust can be regained. The author’s findings indicate that the investment bank(er)-client relationship cannot exist wi- thout trust. The bank(er)-client relationship begins with Performance trust in the introductory phase, evolves to a stronger Experiential Performance trust in the second phase, and reaches at its zenith in the third phase i.e. the last phase of trust evolution. The third phase is quintessenti- ally marked by a situation in which a client is left with the choice of choosing either the invest- ment banker or the bank. The former concludes the evolution of trust in form of Superior Inter- personal trust, while the latter marks the end of the phenomenon with Superior Company trust. Scams, dishonesty and irresponsible behaviour, lack of transparency predictability and perfor- mance, can result in termination of trust. The authors’ findings suggest that regaining trust is possible at an organisational level, but not at an interpersonal level. Dedicated to my family I ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I want to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisors Minister Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart (Minister: Bundesrat and Chair holder: Deutsche Bank Chair of Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship), Prof.