Skip to main content
Frontiers of Business Research in China
Download PDF
  • Research Article
  • Published:

The effects of trust climate on individual performance

Frontiers of Business Research in China volume 3, pages 27–49 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

This paper explores the mechanism by which trust climate influences individual performance. From the perspective of psychological dynamics, we investigate the relationship among perceptions of organizational climate, motivation and individual behaviors to crystallize how a trustworthy organizational environment favors superior individual performance. 203 employees and their supervisors participated in this study, the results show that trust climate benefits individual performance through fostering psychological safety, which in turn influences individual performance via two mutually complementary pathways, namely ability to focus and organizational learning. Psychological safety is conducive to increasing individual ability to focus and improving job performance. Moreover, it is also instrumental in enhancing individual willingness to learn and experiment with new methods as an effort to achieve superior performance. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.

摘要

通过问卷调查与结构方程建模分析组织信任对于员工工作绩效的影响途径。 203 名被调查人和他们的上司参与了问卷调查。 分析采用潜变量路径分析方法, 构建了多组模型, 通过两个阶段的检验, 分析了组织信任的作用机制。 结果表明: 组织信任作用于心理安全感, 而心理安全感通过两条独立途径影响工作绩效, 两条独立途径分别是工作聚焦与工作改进。 心理安全感能够促进员工针对工作的不断改进行为和探索新工作方法的意愿, 同时也有利于员工集中精力在工作上, 从而提高个人工作业绩。

References

  • Anderson J C, Gerbing D W (1988). Structural equation modeling in practice: A review and recommended two-step approach. Psychological Bulletin, 103(3): 411–423

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Albrecht S, Travaglione A (2003). Trust in public-sector senior management. Human Resource Management, 14(1): 76–92

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ambrose M L, Schminke M (2003). Organization structure as a moderator of therelationship between procedural justice, interactional justice, perceived organizational support, and supervisory trust. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(2): 295–305

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Argyris C (1964). Integrating the Individual and the Organization. New York: Wiley

    Google Scholar 

  • Aryee S, Budhwar P S, Chen Zhengxiong (2002). Trust as a mediator of the relationship between organizational justice and work outcomes: Test of a social exchange model. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23: 267–285

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ashforth B E, Lee R T (1990). Defensive behavior in organizations: A preliminary model. Human Relations, 43: 621–648

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Atuahene-Gima K, Li Haiyang (2002). When does trust matter? Antecedents and contingent effects of supervisee trust on performance in selling new products in China and the United States. Journal of Marketing, 66: 61–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Batlis N C (1980). The effect of organizational climate on job satisfaction, anxiety, and propensity to leave. Journal of Psychology, 104: 233–240

    Google Scholar 

  • Brislin R (1970). Back-translation for cross-cultural research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 1: 185–216

    Google Scholar 

  • Brower H H, Schoorman F D, Tan H H (2000). A model of relational leadership: The integration of trust and leader-member exchange. Leadership Quarterly, 11(2): 227–250

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown S P, Leigh T W (1996). A new look at psychological climate and its relationship to job involvement, effort, and performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81(4): 358–368

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carson S J, Madhok A, Varman R, John G (2003). Information processing moderators of the effectiveness of trust-based governance in interfirm R&D collaboration. Organization Science, 14(1): 45–56

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen C C, Chen Y, Xin K (2004). Guanxi practices and trust in management: A procedual justice perspective. Organization Science, 15(2): 200–209

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Colquitt J, Conlon E, Wesson M, Porter C, Ng K (2001). Justice at the millennium: A meta-analytic review of 25 years of organizational justice research. Journal of applied Psychology, 86: 425–445

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Colquitt J A, Scott B A, LePine J A (2007). Trust, trustworthiness, and trust propensity: A meta-analytic test of their unique relationships with risk taking and job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(4): 909–927

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Costigan R D, Ilter S S, Berman J J (1998). A multi-dimensional study of trust in organizations. Journal of Managerial Issues, 10(3): 303–317

    Google Scholar 

  • Costigan R D, Kranas C, Kureshov V A, Ilter S S (2004). Predictors of employee trust of their CEO: A three-country study. Journal of Managerial Issues, 16(2): 197–216

    Google Scholar 

  • Deming W E (1994). The Trust Factor: Liberating Profits and Restoring Corporate Vitality (Whitney J O ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill

    Google Scholar 

  • Detert J R, Burris E R (2007). Leadership behavior and employee voice: Is the door really open? Academy of Management Journal, 55(4): 869–884

    Google Scholar 

  • Dirks K T, Ferrin D L (2002). Trust in leadership: Meta-analytic findings and implications for research and practice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(4): 611–628

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edmondson A (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44: 350–383

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ellis K, Shockley-Zalabak P (2001). Trust in top management and immediate supervisor: The relationship to satisfaction, perceived organizational effectiveness, and information receiving. Communication Quarterly, 49(4): 382

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferrin D L, Dirks K T (2003). The use of rewards to increase and decrease trust: Mediating processes and differential effects. Organization Science, 14(1): 18–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friedlander F (1970). The primacy of trust as a facilitator of further group accomplishment. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 6: 387–400

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gould-Williams J (2003). The importance of HR practices and workplace trust in achieving superior performance: A study of public-sector organizations. Human Resource Management, 14(1): 28–54

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hackman J R, Oldham G R (1980). Work Redesign. MA: Addison-Wesley

    Google Scholar 

  • Hampden-Turner C M, Trompenaars F (2000). Building Cross-cultural Competence: How to Create Wealth from Conflicting Values. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Harvey S, Kelloway E K, Duncan-Leiper L (2003). Trust in management as a buffer of the relationships between overload and strain. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 8(4):306–315

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hemingway M A, Smith C S (1999). Organizational cliamte and occupational stressors as predictors of withdrawal behaviors and injuries in nurses. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 72: 285–299

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jung D I, Avolio B J (2000). Opening the black box: An experimental investigation of the mediating effect of trust and congruence on transformational and transactional leadership. Journal of Organizatinal Behavior, 21: 949–964

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kahn W A (1990). Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work. Academy of Management Journal, 33(4): 692–724

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kanfer R, Ackerman P L (1989). Motivation and cognitive abilities: An integrative/aptitude-treatment interaction approach to skill acquisition. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74: 657–690

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Konovsky M, Pugh D (1994). Citizenship behavior and social exchange. Academy of Management Journal, 37: 656–669

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kramer R M (1999). Trust and distrust in organizations: Emerging perspectives, enduring questions. Annual Review of Psychology, 50: 569–598

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li Ji, Koh W K L, Hia H S (1997). The effect of interactive leadership on human resource management in Singapore’s banking industry. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 8(5): 710–719

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Likert R (1967). The Human Organization. New York: McGraw-Hill

    Google Scholar 

  • Lind A, Tyler T (1988). The Social Psychology of Procedural Justice. New York: Plenum Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Lo S, Aryee S (2003). Psychological contract breach in a Chinese context: An integrative approach. Journal of Managerial Issues, 40(4): 1005–1020

    Google Scholar 

  • Luo Yadong (2000). Guanxi and Business. Singapore: World Scientific

    Google Scholar 

  • Luthans F, Avolio B J, Walumbwa F O, Li W (2005). The psychological capital of Chinese workers: Exploring the relationship with performance. Organization and Management Review, 1(2): 249–271

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • May D R, Gilson R L, Harter L M (2004). The psychological conditions of meaningfulness, safety and availability and the engagement of the human spirit at work. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 77: 11–37

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mayer R C, Davis J H (1999). The effect of the performance appraisal system on trust for management: A field quasi-experiment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84(1): 123–136

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mayer R C, Davis J H, Schoorman F D (1995). An integrative model of organizational trust. Academy of Management Review, 20(3): 709–734

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mayer R C, Gavin M B (2005). Trust in management and performance: Who minds the shop while the employees watch the boss? Academy of Management Journal, 48(5): 874–888

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McAllister D (1995). Affect- and cognition-based trust as foundations for interpersonal cooperation in organizations. Academy of Management Journal, 38: 24–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McEvily B, Perrone V, Zaheer A (2003). Trust as an organizing principle. Organization Science, 14(1): 91–103

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McLain D L, Hackman K (1999). Trust, risk, and decision-making in organizational change. Public Administration Quarterly, 23(2): 152–176

    Google Scholar 

  • Mishra A K, Mishra K E (1994). The role of mutual trust in effective downsizing strategies. Human Resource Management, 33(2): 261–279

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morgan D E, Zeffane R (2003). Employee involvement, organizational change and trust in management. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 14(1): 55–75

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ng K Y, Chua R Y J (2006). Do I contribute more when I trust more? Differential effects of cognition- and affect-based trust. Management and Organization Review, 2(1): 43–66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parker C P, Dipboye R L, Jackson S L (1995). Perceptions of organizational politics: An investigation of antecedents and consequences. Journal of Management, 21(5): 891–912

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patterson M, Warr P, West M (2004). Organizational climate and company productivity: The role of employee affect and employee level. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 77: 193–216

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rousseau D M, Sitkin S B, Burt R S, Camerer C (1998). Not so different after all: A cross-discipline view of trust. Academy of Management Review, 23(3): 393–404

    Google Scholar 

  • Spagnolo G (1999). Social relations and cooperation in organizations. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 38(1): 1–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tan H H, Tan C S F (2000). Toward the differentiation of trust in supervisor and trust in organization. Genetic, Social and General Psychology Monographs, 126(2): 241–260

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsui A S, Pearce J L, Porter L W, Tripoli A M (1997). Alternative approaches to the employee-organization relationship: Does investment in employees pay off? Academy of Management Journal, 40: 1089–1121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • West M A (1990). The Social Psychology of Innovation in Groups. Chichester: Wiley

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitener E M (1997). The impact of human resource activities on employee trust. Human Resource Management Review, 7(4): 389–404

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Willemyns M, Gallois C, Callan V J (2003). Trust me, I’m your boss: Trust and power in supervisor-supervisee communication. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 14(1): 117–127

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wong Y T, Wong C S, Ngo H Y (2002). Loyalty to supervisor and trust in supervisor of workers in Chinese joint ventures: A test of two competing models. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 13(6): 883–900

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Young L, Daniel K (2003). Affectual trust in the workplace. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 14(1): 139–155

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Management School, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China

    Ning Li & Jin Yan

Authors
  1. Ning Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jin Yan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ning Li.

Additional information

__________

Translated and revised from Xinli kexue xuebao 心理科学学报 (Acta Psychologica Sinica), 2007, 39(6): 1111–1121

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Li, N., Yan, J. The effects of trust climate on individual performance. Front. Bus. Res. China 3, 27–49 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11782-009-0002-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11782-009-0002-6

Keywords

关键词