Why Trust Matters: The Moderation of Affective Trust in the Relationship Between LMX and Work Outcomes

摘要

Although a plethora of leader-member-exchange (LMX) research has been conducted over several decades, there still exists a paucity of research that completely explicates the exact mechanisms LMX elicits positive work outcomes through. The incumbent study examined the moderating effects of affective trust in the relationship between LMX and work outcomes (i.e., task performance, turnover intentions, loyalty to supervisor, and organizational citizenship behavior). Data was collected from 255 subordinates from the health care, food, and service industries. The Hayes' macro process (2013) was utilized to test the hypotheses, and the results confirm that affective trust does moderate the relationship between LMX and various work outcomes. Additionally, the relationship between LMX and work outcomes was stronger when subordinates had high affective trust. The implications, limitations, and direction for future research are also discussed.