The Effect of Employee Trust of the Supervisor on Enterprising Behavior: A Cross-Cultural Comparison

Abstract

This study examines the effects of an employee’s affect-based and cognition-based trust of the supervisor on that employee’s enterprising behavior. The extent to which two cultural dimensions, power distance and in-group collectivism, moderate the relationship between the trust measures and enterprising behavior is considered. Trust ratings were provided by 130 U.S. employees, 202 Turkish employees, 101 Polish employees, and 86 Russian employees. Their 519 supervisors then provided ratings of those employees’ enterprising behavior. The results show that both affect-based trust and cognition-based trust have a significant, but modest, effect on the employee’s enterprising behavior. Our findings indicate that both power distance and in-group collectivism do not moderate the proposed trust-behavior relationship although power distance almost reaches the level of significance. We call for further research on other moderating variables to explain the findings.