How does organizational trust benefit work performance?

Abstract

We studies the relationship between organizational trust and work performance through questionnaire method. By establishing six nested models and two non-nested models and comparing them with the hypotheses model, we find that an employee’s trust in his/her immediate superior, co-workers, and the top manager all exert positive influences upon his/her work performance and these influences are independent and supplementary to one another. We also discuss the complex effects of an individual’s perception of different organizational members upon their behaviors. It is found that the influence of an employee’s trust in top manager upon individuals’ job performance is partially mediated by his/her trust in immediate superiors.