The Role of Cognitive and Affective Trust on Promoting Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior

Abstract

Previous researches have largely focused on the benefit of trust; even though some of the trust may cause the risks from misattributed trust. This study attempts to understand and verify whether psychological aspects of trust play an important role in promoting unethical behaviors that intend to benefit the organization. The results show that a high degree of cognitive trust is positively and not significantly related to the intention of unethical pro-organizational behavior. Cognitive trust is a rational inference about the supervisors’ behavior under ability and integrity. Therefore, disputing the trust confidence in supervisor’s ability and integrity that is a rejection of unethical pro-organizational behavior. However, affective trust would promote more unethical pro-organization behavior. Our findings reveal that building affective trust would have great emotional attachment on supervisor/organization and a lack of defensiveness against on unethical pro-organizational behavior compared to cognitive trust. In other words, when trust lock-in in the relationships of employee-supervisor authority, the use of social exchanges and deep bonds of affective indebtedness may create the dark side of trust and then support unethical pro-organizational behavior.