Employee Trust Research Articles

How employees define organisational trust: analysing employee trust in organisation

PurposeMost business organisations try to create and maintain trustful relationships with their various stakeholders. Among all, sustaining a trustful relationship with employees has been particularly important for organisations. However, due to the multidimensional structure and changing nature of concept across settings, it is difficult to identify what makes an organisation trustworthy for its employees. The purpose of this study is to analyse the concept of organisational trust and identify how employees actually define organisational trust.Design/methodology/approachIn the study, a survey was conducted on a sample of 104 employees who were working in Turkey. Following a qualitative and quantitative approach, the data were analysed to categorise the definitions of respondents according to the theoretical framework.FindingsThe findings of study closely overlap with the relevant literature, but they also extend the scope of definition with including new factors such as reputation management, strategic management or ethics and values. According to results, the perceptions of employees on organisational trust vary depending on their individual and organisational characteristics.Practical implicationsThe study reveals the context depending nature of organisational trust. Developing a wider sense by capturing its full meaning and reflecting the different expectations of employees can increase the trust in organisations.Originality/valueBased on the detailed review of literature, the study identifies the major dimensions of organisational trust and then reveals the similarities and differences with the literature. The study provides a viable perspective on the concept to capture its meaning in different contexts.

Constraining institutions, committed employees: unpacking the procedural legitimacy of welfare institutions in Sweden and Denmark

ABSTRACTTo sustain a welfare state requires a high level of institutional legitimacy among citizens. Survey researchers have effectively investigated the legitimacy of both institutional goals and the distribution of benefits and burdens associated with these institutions. However, the legitimacy of institutional procedures remains largely unresearched. This paper contributes in this area by investigating citizens’ perceptions of the delivery of welfare services and benefits in Sweden and Denmark within a large qualitative interview study. The study investigates citizens’ evaluations of the equity and quality of institutional procedures and the competence, commitment, and fairness of employees. Evaluations of primary schools, health care and cash benefit services for unemployed are compared. Findings show generally a much higher trust in employees than confidence in institutional procedures and more confidence in universal welfare institutions than insurance and means tested. Administrative procedures and policy reforms associated with New Public Management are generally seen as detrimental to institutional equity, quality, and goal attainment, whereas employee competence and commitment is seen as safeguarding institutional goals in the face of reform.

Restoring trust in the context of strategic change

The strategic change literature underscores the risk of loss of trust during change but does not address how trust can be restored once compromised. We conduct an inductive longitudinal study of an organization undergoing post-merger integration and examine how management worked to restore employee trust after a conflictual change process. We introduce the psychological contract perspective, which emphasizes relational explanations for loss of trust. We show that repairing trust can be conceptualized as a renegotiation of the psychological contract and develop a three-stage model of trust repair. In contrast to extant models of trust restoration, which emphasize diagnosis, explanation, penance, and reform, our model attends to relational dynamics that may emerge in the context of organizational change, with heightened uncertainty and ambiguity, and highlights the importance of restoring balance and renegotiating the contractual basis of the relationship.

Trust in organization as a moderator of the relationship between self‐efficacy and workplace outcomes: A social cognitive theory‐based examination

Drawing on a social cognitive theory perspective, we contend that an employee's trust in oneself, or self‐efficacy, will interact with the individual's trust in the system, or trust in organization, to predict job attitudes and behaviours. Specifically, we expected that self‐efficacy would have stronger effects on job attitudes (job satisfaction and turnover intentions) and behaviours (task performance and organizational citizenship behaviours) to the degree to which employees perceive high levels of trust in organization. Using data collected from 300 employees and their respective supervisors at a manufacturing organization in Turkey across three waves, we found that self‐efficacy had more positive effects on job satisfaction, task performance, and citizenship behaviours when trust in organization was high. Interestingly, self‐efficacy had a positive effect on turnover intentions when trust in organization was low, indicating that high trust in organization buffered the effects of self‐efficacy on intentions to leave. The results suggest that the motivational value of trust in oneself is stronger to the degree to which employees also have high trust in the system, whereas low trust in system neutralizes the motivational benefits of self‐efficacy.Practitioner points Practicing managers should not only invest in increasing self‐efficacy of their employees, but also invest in building trust to improve employees’ attitudes, behaviours, and performance. This is because when employee trust in organization is high, employee self‐efficacy has greater potential to have a positive influence over job satisfaction, task performance, and organizational citizenship behaviours. Self‐efficacy may actually increase an employee's desire to leave the organization when organizational conditions are unfavourable, such as in the case of low trust in the organization. Practicing managers should be aware that employees who have high levels of confidence may be at higher risk of turnover when they are unhappy with the organization.

Relationship between humor orientation and customer orientation, and the employees' trust, service quality, relationship quality, and relationship retention of employee in commercial sports center

Purpose The purpose of this study is to empirically inquire into the relationship between a commercial sports center employee's humor orientation & customer orientation and employees' trust, service quality, sports center relationship quality and relationship retention through structural equation model analysis. Methods For this purpose, the survey targeted 224 adult men and women who have used any one of the three commercial sports centers in Chungcheong for over three months. For sampling method, convenience sampling method was used, while the questionnaire was self-administered. In an effort to verify the proposed structural model, this study used IBM SPSSWIN Ver. 21.0 and AMOS 18.0. Results First, humor orientation was found to have a positive influence on employees' trust. Second, customer orientation was found to have a positive influence on employees' trust. Third, employees' trust was found to have a positive influence on service quality. Fourth, employees' trust was found not to have a positive influence on sports center relationship quality. Fifth, employees' trust was also found not to have a positive influence on relationship retention. Sixth, service quality was found to have a positive influence on sports center relationship quality. Seventh, service quality was also found not to have a positive influence on relationship retention.

Distinguished Scholars Invited Essay: Are Secret Proceedings Why Longer Tenured Employees Trust Their Organizations Least?

We address the effects of secrecy in organizational policy enforcement. First, the legal literature that explains why court proceedings are open is summarized: openness more effectively holds decision makers and claimants accountable for truthfulness and unbiased decisions, demonstrates that the rich or powerful have not bought off the weak, supports adaptation to changing norms, and enhances the legitimacy of state authority. Next, we propose that when organizational policy enforcement is kept secret from other employees, organizations lose these benefits. One reflection of these loses will be lower employee trust in their organizations the longer their tenure there. Using questionnaire data from a large U.S. governmental agency, we found that lower employee trust with tenure is incrementally linearly lower over the course of employment, not the result of an early breach of the psychological contract. This occurs for employees at all hierarchical levels but is steepest for nonsupervisory employees, suggesting that employees lack information about policy enforcement may be driving this phenomenon.

The future African workplace: The use of collaborative robots in manufacturing

Orientation: Industry 4.0 promotes technological innovations and human–robot collaboration (HRC). Human–robot interaction (HRI) and HRC on the manufacturing assembly line have been implemented in numerous advanced production environments worldwide. Collaborative robots (Cobots) are increasingly being used as collaborators with humans in factory production and assembly environments.Research purpose: The purpose of the research is to investigate the current use and future implementation of Cobots worldwide and its specific impact on the African workforce.Motivation for the study: Exploring the gap that exists between the international implementation of Cobots and the potential implementation and impact on the African manufacturing and assembly environment and specifically on the African workforce.Research design, approach and method: The study features a qualitative research design. An open-ended question survey was conducted amongst leading manufacturing companies in South Africa in order to determine the status and future implementation of Cobot practices. Thematic analysis and content analysis were conducted using AtlasTi.Main findings: The findings indicate that the African businesses were aware of the international business trends, regarding Cobot implementation, and the possible impact of Cobots on the African work force. Factors specifically highlighted in this study are fear of retrenchment, human–Cobot trust and the African culture.Practical implications and value-add: This study provides valuable background on the international status of Cobot implementation and the possible impact on the African workforce. The study highlights the importance of building employee trust, providing the relevant training and addressing the fear of retrenchment amongst employees.

Leading with Emotional Labor:Gender Differences in Leader Emotional Labor and Employee Performance

In this paper, adopting the role congruity theory, we proposed that female leaders can be more effective in driving employee task performance than male leaders when they are high in emotional labor. Using a sample of 515 leaders and their corresponding 515 employees in three companies in Japan, we examined the joint effects of leader gender and leader emotional labor on employee task performance through employee trust in leader. Our results suggested that female leaders emotional labor had a stronger, positive effect on employee trust in leader than their male counterparts. In addition, we found that female leader's emotional labor had a stronger positive, indirect effect on employee task performance through employee trust in leader than male leaders. Our findings are consistent with the predictions of role congruity theory (Eagly, 1987), providing new theoretical lens to the gender and leader emotional labor research.

Fatores influenciadores dos comportamentos de mobilização dos recursos humanos num hospital universitário

A influência das práticas de Gestão de Recursos Humanos (GRH) e o papel mediador das condições psicológicas de apoio, confiança, justiça e empowerment na mobilização dos colaboradores do Hospital Universitário Walter Cantídio (HUWC) e da Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC) foram estudados utilizando-se análises fatoriais exploratória e confirmatória, por meio da modelagem de equações estruturais e o bootstrapping (N = 638). Os resultados sugerem que as práticas mobilizadoras de GRH podem estimular a adoção de bons comportamentos por parte dos colaboradores do HUWC/UFC. Porém, estas podem não ser suficientes, caso não sejam também implementadas práticas de justiça, apoio, confiança e empowerment, susceptíveis de desenvolver nos colaboradores sentimentos mais profundos de vínculo afetivo para com a instituição e, consequentemente, melhorar os relacionamentos, a motivação e o desempenho coletivo.

The Impact of Supportive Work Environment, Trust, and Self-Efficacy on Organizational Learning and Its Effectiveness: A Stimulus-Organism Response Approach

This study examines the relationship among management and peer support, trust, self-efficacy, organizational learning, and organizational effectiveness. Within organization, supportive work environment plays a significant role in the establishment of employees' learning process. The causal design is used to analyze the impact of supportive work environment on employees' psychological influence (i.e. trust and self-efficacy) and organizational learning. The nature of the study is cross-sectional with convenience sampling technique. Data is collected from employees of 400 banks located at twin cities i.e. Islamabad and Rawalpindi through self-administered questionnaire. Data was analyzed through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) through maximum likelihood. Finding indicates that top-management and co-worker support (i.e. stimulus) had significant positive impact on employee's trust and self-efficacy (i.e. organism) and organism acts as mediator between stimulus and response. Moreover, employees' trust (cognitive/emotional), and self-efficacy had significant positive impact on organizational learning and organizational effectiveness (i.e. response). Bank managers, industry associations, training providers, and research institutions may use findings to bring improvements in organizational learning mechanisms and employee behaviors to enhance the overall effectiveness of the organizations.

Good enough leadership: realism without cynicism

PurposeFor more than 70 years, leaders of all types have consistently struggled to earn the respect and followership of others to earn the employee trust which is the key to innovation and competitive advantage and to create organizational systems and cultures that fit their strategic objectives. The purpose of this paper is to address what would be “good enough” leadership qualities.Design/methodology/approachResearch methodology included research into several individuals that exceeded in leadership, and an examination of how they used the “good enough” leadership styles to be successful as leaders.FindingsThis paper suggests several ways to be an effective “good enough” leader. These ways translate your values into concrete directives, jettison dead metaphors, explore enlivening ones, subject your values to the test of dialogue, and hold onto your values less tightly.Originality/valueLeadership and leadership qualities have been widely discussed in the literature. This paper approaches the situation differently. Rather than striving for perfection and being frustrated for not reaching it, this paper explores “good enough” leadership qualities that actually work well in the professional arena.

Research on the impact of LMX leadership theory on mutual trust and organisational commitment of employees in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The paper presents the theoretical foundations of leadership based on the LMX exchange leader-member theory which essentially involves leadership process where a continuous and creative interaction between leaders and followers is at the centre of attention, during which the leader, among other things, affects the degree of mutual trust and organisational commitment and the quality of relationships in his/her organisation, which actually has a direct impact on organisational performances, effectiveness of the organisation’s business and its market positioning.Also, the paper presents the results of research conducted in organisations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which undoubtedly point to the fact that the dimensions of leadership based on the LMX exchange leader-member theory, is strongly correlated with the dimensions of mutual trust and organisational commitment, and to have a significant positive impact on them, and therefore on organisational performances and effectiveness of business organisations that were included in this study.

Interpersonal Trust among University Employees: An Empirical Investigation

Workforce interpersonal trust is considered as a driving force to increase the efficiency of the organization. The current investigation aimed to explore the degree of interpersonal trust of university employees in terms of their biographical variables such as gender, nationality, experience and qualification. The current investigation carried out among employees working in different colleges of Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University. The interpersonal trust questionnaire along with biographical blank sheet was used to gather the responses from the employees. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The investigation results observed that (i) female university employees showed significantly higher degree of professional support than male counterparts, (ii) communication, a dimension of interpersonal trust ranked least by both female & male and Saudi and Non-Saudi employees, (iii) the facets of interpersonal trust, managerial competence and professional support ranked highest by Ph.D. and master & less qualified employees of the PSAU, (iv) high and low experienced group of employees of PSAU did not differ significantly on interpersonal trust and its various facet. The current findings provide certain suggestions to implement to add innovative ideas in the similar kinds of research.

Organizational crisis: emotions and contradictions in managing internal stakeholders

PurposeLittle research has focused on the impact of organizational crisis on their internal stakeholders – the employees. This paper aims to fill this void by examining the impression management strategies used by senior managers in managing their employees during organizational crisis and the impact of these strategies on employees.Design/methodology/approachThe authors collected qualitative data from three organizations and used multiple analytical lenses (such as thematic, content and trope) to explore patterns in senior managers’ management of employees during crisis.FindingsEmerging patterns in the data revealed that the emotional state and reactions of employees (individual and collective) during crisis include anger, fear, shame, depression and shock. Additionally, data revealed two major contradictions (tensions) in managing employees during crisis: maintaining and compromising standard and managers’ wants versus employees’ desire in the way organization crisis is managed. Based on these preliminary findings and using affective event theory and the theory of collective emotions as a frame, the authors built a conceptual model that depicts the relationship between organizational crisis, impression management and emotion-driven employee attitudes and behaviors.Research limitations/implicationsA major limitation in the current research is that authors’ data are largely composed of text (e.g. from newspaper and websites). Nevertheless, the textual data were based on actual interviews with stakeholders and victims and have more than compensated for the limitation. Theoretically, by examining the emotional states and reactions of internal (rather than external) stakeholders to organizational crisis, the authors extend the literature in the area of organizational crisis and crisis management, while the testable propositions in this conceptual model have a potential to open up new pathways for studying organizational crisis. Practically, it is imperative for managers to have skills to identify and manage key employees’ emotional states and reactions to crisis. Managers should align their words and actions during crisis management to increase employees trust. Also pre-crisis planning should include specific guidelines on how to identify and manage employees’ individual and collective emotions during crisis.Practical implicationsThe results show that inappropriate impression management strategies may worsen employees’ emotional states and reactions (individual and collective) during crisis; therefore, it is imperative for managers to have skills in identifying key employees’ emotional states and reactions to crisis and the impression management strategies appropriate in managing them. A training that sharpens managers’ emotional intelligence will be helpful in managing the emotions of employees (individual and collective) during crisis. Also, pre-crisis planning should include specific guidelines on how to identify and manage employees’ individual and collective emotions during crisis, while senior managers’ words and actions during crisis need to be synchronized to engender employees’ trust.Originality/valueThis study demonstrates that beyond emotions of employees during crisis, there are contradictions and tensions in the senior manager’s management of their employees during crisis. Also, outcomes of a quantitative test of the conceptual model developed from the current study should improve the generalizability of the results and open up new pathways for future research in this area.

Impact of knowledge management enablers on knowledge sharing

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of trust in the relationship between knowledge management enablers (i.e. top management support, organizational culture, knowledge management system quality, and openness in communication) on knowledge sharing in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Pakistan.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted through self-administered survey of employees of SMEs in Pakistan. Correlation, Baron and Kenny approach (causal steps approach) and PROCESS Macro (normal test theory) developed by Hayes were used to find out the direct and indirect effects of trust among knowledge management enablers and knowledge sharing.FindingsThe results have shown that trust of employees at SMEs was developed through knowledge management enablers which promote knowledge sharing. Therefore, the relationship between knowledge management enablers, trust, and knowledge sharing is positive.Research limitations/implicationsThe current study only considered the single aspect of knowledge management system, i.e. knowledge sharing; some other aspects of knowledge management system such as knowledge creation and knowledge utilization can be used for future studies at SMEs sector.Practical implicationsThe mediation of trust between top management support, culture, openness in communication, and knowledge sharing provided that trustworthy relationships between the members of an organization would lead to enhance the knowledge sharing activities. In order to promote the knowledge sharing attitudes within the organization, the managers should consider knowledge management enablers (top management support, organizational culture, and openness in communication) along with trustworthy environment as an energetic force for the development of knowledge management systems.Originality/valueThe study confirmed the mediating effect of trust between the relationships of top management support, organizational culture, openness in communication, and knowledge sharing, while there is a partial mediating role of trust between knowledge management system quality and knowledge sharing.

스포츠센터 직원의 조직신뢰에 따른 조직몰입 및 친사회적행동의 구조적 관계

The study conducted a research survey through convenient sampling method aimed at employees of 20 sports centers located in Seoul and kyungki-do. 250 were distributed and 243 were selected final valid sample by removing 7 incomplete questionnaires. Then data were analyzed through frequency analysis, reliability analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, correlation analysis, and structural equation modeling techniques using SPSS 18.0 and AMOS 18.0.BR The results were as follows.BR First, organizational trust of sports center employees had a positive influence on Organizational Commitment.BR Second, organizational trust in sports center employees had a positive influence on prosocial behavior.BR Third, Organizational Commitment in sports center employees had a positive influence on prosocial behavior.

Relationship of LMX and Agreeableness with Emotional Exhaustion: a Mediated Moderated Model

The aim of the study is to explore that whether Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) and agreeableness incite an employee to create facade of conformity (FOC) and how creation of FOC affects employee’s emotional exhaustion considering moderating effects of trust in management and employee’s emotional stability amongst four service sector organizations of Islamabad, Pakistan. Data Analysis of 303 supervisor-subordinate dyads using OLS regression found that LMX is negatively and significantly related to FOC while agreeableness is positively and significantly related to FOC. Effects of LMX on FOC are moderated by employee’s trust in management. Effect of FOC was lower among those having high degree of trust in management as compared to those who have lower degree of trust in management. FOC leads to emotional exhaustion. Moreover, effects of FOC on emotional exhaustion are moderated by employee’s emotional stability. Such that the effect of emotional exhaustion seems to be lower among those who have higher levels of emotional stability. No evidence was found that LMX and agreeableness directly affects emotional exhaustion without their effect on FOC. Based on these findings, we have discussed practical implications for managers along with limitations of the study and future directions.

Organization Justice and Organization Citizenship Behavior: Employee Trust Acting As a Mediator.

Justice in the organizations mostly focused on two perspectives, fairness of results and fairness of techniques is used to determine that outcomes and the perspectives were called as distributive justice and procedural justice respectively. The organizational justice covers everything on versatile concept from system of payment to treatment of your boss. Researchers of organizational behavior recognized four types of organizational justice that is procedural, distributive, interactional and informational justice. Procedural justice perceptions considered to be one of the most crucial variables of organizational justice perceptions. The effect of different level of organizational justice on organizational citizenship behavior is a widespread researched topic and explains the importance of organizational justice in an organization. The purpose of this quantitative study is to investigate the impact of employee trust on the relationship between organizational justice and organizational citizenship behavior in the perspective of call center industry in Pakistan. The sample size covered 160 employees of different call centers of Islamabad. A total of 38 questions were asked based on a 5 point Likert scale responses. For accurate data processing, SPSS Statistics software package is used for statistical analysis. Regression is used to test the hypothesis. The results show that there is a positive relationship between Organizational Justice and OCB (Accepted), there is a positive relationship between Procedural Justice and OCB (Rejected), there is a positive relationship between Distributional Justice and OCB (Accepted), there is a positive relationship between Interactional Justice and OCB (Accepted) and employee trust does not mediate the associations between Organizational Justice and OCB, which is a positive effects on OCB.

Confianza y empoderamiento de los empleados en organizaciones públicas y privadas de Lima

Este estudio tiene por objeto conocer la relación entre la confianza organizacional y el empoderamiento de los empleados de las organizaciones públicas y privadas de Lima. Utilizando dos cuestionarios de medición de las variables, en una muestra de 327 profesionales de diversas especialidades que realizan estudios de posgrado (segunda especialidad, maestría y doctorado) en una universidad pública, se encontró que existe un alto grado de confianza y empoderamiento entre los participantes respecto de su posición en la organización donde laboran; así como, ambas variables están asociadas de manera significativa y positiva. Un análisis para conocer la importancia de las variables demográficas y organizacionales en el comportamiento de la muestra nos indica que hay diferencias muy débiles de la confianza con género, estado civil y ninguna otra; mientras que con el empoderamiento no hay ninguna variable demográfica ni organizacional que se relacione: son variables independientes.

Examining and testing the roles of human resource development (HRD) in the public sector: evidence from US federal agencies

Human resources (HR) are a priority in organizations, and managing the HR force effectively is the best way for them to survive and flourish. As a critical and integral component for achieving public agencies’ missions and objectives, a well-developed and effective public human resource development (HRD) program needs to be in place. The following research questions guided this study: (1) What are the role of HRD systems (i.e. off-the-job training and on-the-job training), and HRD effectiveness in public organizations? (2) Do HRD systems and HRD effectiveness have a positive impact on employee attitudes and behaviors? (3) What are the mediating roles of mission congruence on trust in leaders and satisfaction with the organization? This study uses data from the Merit Systems Protection Board to identify the nature of HRD and the antecedents of HRD effectiveness in the public sector, and to determine the resulting organizational effectiveness of HRD. This research finds that some HRD effectiveness and mission congruence play major roles in meaningfully and significantly boosting employee trust in leaders and organizational satisfaction. Finally, a discussion on the main findings, research, and practical implications for public management theory and practice is provided.