Abstract

The extent to which mistrust occurs and the reasons why it festers within institutional contexts are less well known. A descriptive survey research design was used to examine perfectionism and cognitive problems as correlates of mistrust among university academic staff. The population consisted of 988 lecturers from the 2 randomly selected universities. Proportionate stratified random sampling was used to select a sample of 285 lecturers. Data were collected using three adapted standardised instruments namely: Perfectionism Scale (PS); Cognitive Problem Scale (CPS) and Mistrust Scale (MS) with reliability coefficients of .95, .69, and .82 respectively simple linear regression, multiple regression analysis, and Pearson’s product-moment correlation coefficients were used to test the four research hypotheses formulated at the 0.05 level of significance. The result reveals a significant influence of perfectionism on the level of mistrust among university academic staff (β = .300, t = 5.298, p < .05). Cognitive problems were also found to significantly influence the level of mistrust among university academic staff (β = .324, t = 5.763, p < .05). There is a combined influence of perfectionism and cognitive problems on the level of mistrust among university academic staff (F (2, 282) = 23.751, p < .05). There were significant and positive relationships between cognitive problems and mistrust (r = .324, p < .05), and perfectionism and mistrust (r = .300, p < .05). Based on the findings of the study it is recommended, among others, that the university administration create awareness about establishing a trusting relationship with other people on campus and how to guide against the twin issues of perfectionism and cognitive problems that can affect the level of mistrust through seminars, workshops, and conferences.