New Link between Administrative Reforms and Job Attitude: The Role of Interpersonal Trust in Peers as a Mediator on Organizational Commitment

Abstract

Since the 1997 Korean financial crisis, a wide range of administrative reforms in Korea have taken place. The new public management, which emphasizes improving organizational performance, has been the key factor of the Korean administrative reforms. These administrative reforms affect organizational commitment through organizational trust within public organizations. Prior studies focused on examining how supervisory trust mediates the relationship between administrative reforms and organizational commitment. This study focuses on the role of interpersonal trust in coworkers, which prior studies have not examined. Results indicate that interpersonal trust in coworkers mediates the relationship between administrative reforms such as job insecurity, empowerment and participation, and organizational commitment. Professional reforms are more related to organizational commitment than market-oriented reforms.