신뢰에 대한 대부분의 연구는 부하의 상사신뢰에 집중 되어 있었고, 상사의 부하신뢰에 관한 연구는 극히 제한적으로 이루어졌다. 본 연구는 이러한 인식을 바탕으로 상사의 부하신뢰에 대한 이해를 높이고자 수행되었다. 특히, 부하의 직무수행 즉, 과업성과와 조직시민행동(OCB)이 상사의 부하신뢰에 미치는 영향과 상사의 동기귀인의 매개효과를 살펴보았다. 실증 연구결과 첫째, 부하의 과업성과와 OCB 중 개인지향 조직시민행동(OCBI)은 상사의 부하신뢰에 대해 직접효과와 상호작용효과가 모두 있는 것으로 나타났다. 특히, 상호작용효과에서 부하의 과업성과 정도에 따라 부하의 OCBI와 상사의 부하신뢰 관계가 변화되었다. 이는 과업성과가 높을 경우 대체로 상사들은 부하들을 신뢰하는 것으로 나타났지만, 과업성과가 낮을 경우 부하의 OCBI에 따라 상사의 부하신뢰는 강한 정(+)의 관계로 나타났다. 그러나 OCB 중 조직지향 조직시민행동(OCBO)의 경우 직접효과 및 과업성과와의 상호작용효과가 검증되지 않았다. 둘째, 상사의 동기귀인의 매개효과의 경우는 상사가 인식한 부하의 이타적 동기는 부하의 OCBI가 상사의 부하신뢰에 미치는 관계에서만 완전 매개하는 것으로 나타났다. 이러한 실증 분석결과를 바탕으로 본 연구의 시사점, 한계 및 향후 연구방향을 제시하였다.
Trust has been one of major research areas in the field of organizational behavior. Much of research on trust in organization has focused on subordinate’s trust in supervisors. However, not enough attention has been paid to the supervisor’s trust in subordinates, especially antecedents of supervisor’s trust in subordinate. Recognizing this issue, we intend to extend our understanding of trust in an organization by exploring the antecedents of supervisor’s trust in subordinate.
This research has three main purposes. First, we intended to identify the antecedents of supervisor’s trust in subordinate. We suggested that both subordinate’s task performances and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) have positive effects on supervisor’s trust in subordinate. Second, we argued that task performance moderates the positive effect of OCBs on supervisor’s trust in subordinate, in addition to the main effects suggested above. Third, we investigated the mediating effect of supervisor’s attribution on the relationship between subordinate’s OCBs and supervisor’s trust. Thus, we developed the following hypotheses:
H1：Subordinate’s task performance is positively related to supervisor’s trust in subordinate.
H2：Subordinate’s organizational citizenship behaviors are positively related to supervisor’s trust in subordinate.
H3：Subordinate’s task performance moderates the relationships between subordinate’s organizational citizenship behaviors and supervisor’s trust in subordinate such that the relationship between organizational citizenship behaviors and supervisor’s trust is stronger when task performance is low.
H4：Supervisor’s attribution of subordinate’s altruistic motive mediates the relationships between subordinate’s organizational citizenship behaviors and supervisor’s trust in subordinate.
In order to test our hypotheses, we distributed questionnaires to supervisors working in northeastern area in USA. We collected data from supervisors since they were the most appropriate source of data, considering the purposes of this study. Of 130 respondents, 45% were female, and the average age was 38.26 years (SD=11.5), their job tenure was 8.29 years (SD=7.84). About 75% of the respondents had at least bachelor’s degree and 50% were Caucasian. All of the items were measured on a seven-point Likert scale (ranging from 1=strongly disagree to 7=strongly agree). We utilized hierarchical regression analyses in order to test our hypotheses.
Results indicated that subordinate’s task performances and OCBI were positively related to supervisor’s trust in subordinate. Further, we found that subordinate’s task performances moderated the effects of OCBI on supervisor’s trust in subordinate. In other words, the relationship between OCBI and supervisor’s trust was stronger when subordinate’s task performance was low. However, there was no interaction between task performance and OCBO. In addition, supervisor’s attribution of subordinate’s motive partially mediated the relationship between subordinate’s task performance and supervisor’s trust and fully mediated the relationship between OCBI and supervisor’s trust.
This research has several theoretical and practical implications. First, our results suggest that subordinate’s job performance plays significant roles in determining supervisor’s trust in subordinate. Second, the effect of subordinate’s OCBs on the supervisor’s trust in subordinate was different, depending on level of subordinate’s task performance. Third, subordinate’s OCBI has positive effects on the supervisor’s trust, but there was no relationship between subordinate’s OCBO and supervisor’s trust. This result indicates that supervisor has different perception between OCBI and OCBO and that supervisor may value OCBI more than OCBO. Last, supervisor’s attribution of follower’s motive mediates the relationship between job performance and supervisor trust.
This research has some limitations. First, we collected data from single source, i.e., supervisor. Thus, common method bias may be a potential risk. However, supervisor is the most appropriate source of the data for the purpose of this study. In addition, common method bias for this particular study is less likely to be a matter of concern, given our findings of significant interaction effects. Second, the number of variables included in the present investigation was limited. We included job performance and supervisor attribution, among many potential antecedents of supervisor’s trust in subordinate. Third, the data were collected at one point in time. Given our cross-sectional design, we cannot infer causality. Despite its limitations, this study enriches our understanding of supervisor’s trust in subordinate. Our findings suggest that both job performance and supervisor attribution play critical role determining supervisor’s trust in subordinate. Additional research in this area seems not only to be warranted but also to be critical to advance our understanding of trust in organizations.
