Professor Nicole Gillespie

KPMG Chair in Trust

School of Business
Faculty of Business, Economics and Law

Overview

Nicole Gillespie is Professor of Management and Chair in Organizational Trust at the University of Queensland, and an International Research Fellow at the Centre for Corporate Reputation, Oxford University. She co-leads the Trust, Ethics and Governance Alliance at the University of Queensland, is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, and sits on the National AI Centre Thinktank on Responsible AI. In 2019, she was made a Fellow of the Australian and New Zealand School of Government in recognition of outstanding contribution to public management.

Nicole joined UQ in January 2010. Prior to this she held faculty and research positions at Melbourne Business School, Warwick Business School (UK), The Australian & New Zealand School of Government, The University of Melbourne, and Swinburne University of Technology.

Trained as an organizational psychologist, Nicole’s research focuses on trust development and repair in organisations and in contexts where trust is challenged (e.g. after a trust failure, in complex stakeholder environments, during organizational transformation and digital disruption, in emerging technologies and virtual healthcare, in cross-cultural relations). Current research projects focus on understanding stakeholder trust in organizations and industries, organizational trust repair, designing trustworthy organizations, and trust in Artificial Intelligence and adoption of emerging technologies. Her research appears in leading international journals, including the Academy of Management Review, Journal of Management, Journal of Applied Psychology, Organization Studies, Journal of Management Studies, Journal of International Business Studies, Accounting Organizations and Society, European Journal of Information Systems, Journal of Services Research, Business Ethics Quarterly, Journal of Business Ethics, Human Resource Management, Sloan Management Review, Computers in Human Behavior, and Work and Stress, as well as in books and book chapters. She has also published in a range of health journals including Lancet Digital Health. Her work has been extensively presented in Europe, the USA and Australia. She is Deputy Editor of the Journal of Trust Research and on the editorial board of the leading leadership journal, Leadership Quarterly.

Nicole has written commissioned research reports and case studies on building and repairing stakeholder trust for the UK Institute of Business Ethics, the World Economic Forum, and a policy note for the UK Parliament on restoring trust in the financial sector after the global financial crisis. She has also collaborated with KPMG to produce though leadership and research reports including Trustworthy by Design: A practical guide to organisational trust ; Trust in Artificial Intelligence: A global study; Trust in AI: Country Insights and Achieving Trustworthy AI: A model for trustworthy artificial intelligence. Her research and consulting has led to positive changes in industry, government and policy across a range of sectors, including Health, Resources, Finance and Banking, Higher Education, R&D, Not-for-Profit and the Defence industry. Clients include the World Economic Forum, the Ontario Hospital Association, Barclays Bank, UBS Bank, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, the Royal Flying Doctor Service, CSIRO, The Australian Army, Bank of Queensland, Santos, Origin Energy and various government agencies. She has attracted over $10million in research funding as a Chief Investigator with her colleagues, including ARC, NHMRC and industry grants. Nicole is an active member of the Academy of Management, the European Group of Organisational Studies, the First International Network on Trust and the Oxford Centre for Reputation and sits on multiple industry and scholarly advisory boards.

Nicole has over twenty years experience in designing and delivering MBA, Executive MBA, specialist masters and undergraduate courses. She is the recipient of five teaching excellence awards and multiple best paper awards, including from the Academy of Management (with former PhD student Mattia Anesa), and in 2016 received the UQ Business School Research Award.

Research Impacts

Nicole is dedicated to translating her research into practice and she has written commissioned reports, as well as numerous research reports for government and industry. Her research is regularly featured in international and national media outlets and she has consulted and conducted research for a range of public and private sector organisations. She is a regular speaker at industry, government and academic conferences, as well as round-tables for industry and government.

Qualifications

  • Postgraduate Diploma in Post-Compulsory Education, University of Warwick
  • Doctor of Philosophy, University of Melbourne
  • Bachelor (Honours) of Arts, The University of Queensland
  • Bachelor of Arts, The University of Queensland

Publications

View all Publications

Supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy

  • Doctor Philosophy

  • Doctor Philosophy

View all Supervision

Publications

Featured Publications

Book

Book Chapter

  • Lockey, Steve and Gillespie, Nicole (2024). Understanding trust in artificial intelligence: a research agenda. A Research Agenda for Trust. (pp. 11-24) Edward Elgar Publishing. doi: 10.4337/9781802200942.00009

  • Curtis, Caitlin, Gillespie, Nicole and Okimoto, Tyler (2023). Establishing trust in science communication. Teaching science students to communicate: a practical guide. (pp. 39-47) edited by Susan Rowland and Louise Kuchel. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-91628-2_5

  • Gillespie, Nicole, Fulmer, C. Ashley and Lewicki, Roy (2021). A multilevel perspective on organizational trust. Understanding trust in organizations: a multilevel perspective. (pp. 3-13) New York, NY., United States of America: Taylor and Francis. doi: 10.4324/9780429449185

  • Möllering, Guido, Gillespie, Nicole and Lewicki, Roy (2021). Multilevel trust: reflections, insights, and a future research agenda. Understanding trust in organizations: a multilevel perspective. (pp. 361-371) edited by Möllering, Guido, Gillespie, Nicole and Lewicki, Roy. New York, NY., United States of America: Taylor and Francis. doi: 10.4324/9780429449185

  • Gillespie, Nicole, Lockey, Steve, Hornsey, Matthew and Okimoto, Tyler (2021). Trust repair: a multilevel framework. Understanding trust in organizations: a multilevel perspective. (pp. 143-176) New York, NY., United States of America: Taylor and Francis. doi: 10.4324/9780429449185

  • Gillespie, Nicole and Siebert, Sabina (2018). Organizational trust repair. The Routledge companion to trust. (pp. 284-301) edited by Rosalind H. Searle, Ann-Marie Nienaber and Sim B. Sitkin. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315745572-20

  • Gillespie, Nicole (2015). Survey measures of trust in organizational contexts: An overview. Handbook of Research Methods on Trust. (pp. 225-239) edited by Fergus Lyon, Guido Mollering and Mark N.K. Saunders. Cheltenham U.K.: Edward Elgar. doi: 10.4337/9781782547419.00031

  • Gillespie, Nicole and Hurley, Robert (2013). Trust and the Global Financial Crisis. Handbook of Advances in Trust Research. (pp. 177-203) edited by Reinhard Bachmann and Akbar Zaheer. Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar. doi: 10.4337/9780857931382.00019

  • Gillespie, Nicole (2012). Measuring trust in organizational contexts: An overview of survey-based measures. Handbook of research methods on trust. (pp. 175-188) edited by Fergus Lyon, Guido Möllering and Mark N. K. Saunders. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. doi: 10.4337/9780857932013.00027

  • Gillespie, Nicole, Hurley, Robert, Dietz, Graham and Bachmann, Reinhard (2012). Restoring institutional trust after the global financial crisis: a systemic approach. Restoring trust in organizations and leaders: enduring challenges and emerging answers. (pp. 1-43) edited by Roderick M. Kramer and Todd L. Pittinsky. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199756087.003.0010

  • Ferrin, Donald L. and Gillespie, Nicole (2010). Trust differences across national-societal cultures: Much to do, or much ado about nothing?. Organizational Trust: A cultural perspective. (pp. 42-86) edited by Mark N. Saunders, Denise Skinner, Graham Dietz, Nicole Gillespie and Roy J. Lewicki. Cambridge, U.K. ; New York, U.S.A.: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511763106.003

  • Dietz, Graham, Gillespie, Nicole and Chao, Georgia T. (2010). Unravelling the complexities of trust and culture. Organizational Trust: A cultural perspective. (pp. 3-41) edited by Mark N. K. Saunders, Denise Skinner, Graham Dietz, Nicole Gillespie and Roy J. Lewicki. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511763106.002

  • Gillespie, Nicole and Mann, Leon (2005). How trustworthy is your leader? Implications for leadership, team processes and outcomes in R&D teams. Leadership, management and innovation in R&D project teams. (pp. 93-122) edited by Leon Mann. Westport, CT, U.S.A.: Praeger.

  • Mann, Leon and Gillespie, Nicole (2005). Transformational leaders of project teams: Who are they and what difference do they make?. Leadership, management and innovation in R&D project teams. (pp. 71-92) edited by Leon Mann. Westport, CT, U.S.A.: Praeger.

Journal Article

Conference Publication

Other Outputs

Grants (Administered at UQ)

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Note for students: Professor Nicole Gillespie is not currently available to take on new students.

Current Supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

Completed Supervision