Trust in leadership: meta-analytic findings and implications for research and practice.

In this study, the authors examined the findings and implications of the research on trust in leadership that has been conducted during the past 4 decades. First, the study provides estimates of the primary relationships between trust in leadership and key outcomes, antecedents, and correlates (k = 106). Second, the study explores how specifying the construct with alternative leadership referents (direct leaders vs. organizational leadership) and definitions (types of trust) results in systematically different relationships between trust in leadership and outcomes and antecedents. Direct leaders (e.g., supervisors) appear to be a particularly important referent of trust. Last, a theoretical framework is offered to provide parsimony to the expansive literature and to clarify the different perspectives on the construct of trust in leadership and its operation.

[1]  G. Mellinger.  Interpersonal trust as a factor in communication. , 1956, Journal of abnormal psychology.

[2]  W. Brogden.  Annual Review of Psychology , 1957 .

[3]  Chris Argyris,et al.  Interpersonal competence and organizational effectiveness , 1962 .

[4]  William H. Read,et al.  Upward Communication in Industrial Hierarchies , 1962 .

[5]  Edwin A. Fleishman,et al.  PATTERNS OF LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOR RELATED TO EMPLOYEE GRIEVANCES AND TURNOVER , 1962 .

[6]  P. Blau.  Exchange and Power in Social Life , 1964 .

[7]  Harry C. Triandis,et al.  The Human Organization: Its Management and Value. , 1967 .

[8]  J. Rotter.  A new scale for the measurement of interpersonal trust. , 1967, Journal of personality.

[9]  D. Mcgregor.  The professional manager , 1968 .

[10]  Analysis of Employee and Physician Attitudes Toward Hospital Merger , 1973 .

[11]  Karlene H. Roberts,et al.  Failures in Upward Communication in Organizations: Three Possible Culprits , 1974 .

[12]  R. Golembiewski,et al.  The centrality of interpersonal trust in group processes , 1975 .

[13]  L R James,et al.  Perceived leadership behavior and employee confidence in the leader as moderated by job involvement. , 1975, The Journal of applied psychology.

[14]  C. Cooper.  Theories of Group Processes , 1976 .

[15]  Organizational Communication: Relationships to Organizational Climate and Job Satisfaction , 1977 .

[16]  R. Rosenthal.  The file drawer problem and tolerance for null results , 1979 .

[17]  J. Cook,et al.  New work attitude measures of trust, organizational commitment and personal need non‐fulfilment , 1980 .

[18]  Charles A. O'Reilly,et al.  Trust and the Communication of Performance Appraisal Information: The Effect of Feedback on Performance and Job Satisfaction , 1980 .

[19]  G. R. Oldham.  The Impact of Supervisory Characteristics on Goal Acceptance , 1975 .

[20]  Chris W. Clegg,et al.  Autonomous work groups in a greenfield site: A comparative study , 1983 .

[21]  M. A. Novak.  A study of leader resources as determinants of leader-member exchange (power) , 1984 .

[22]  Richard V. Farace,et al.  Determinants of Employee Work Perceptions and Attitudes , 1985 .

[23]  Janet Fulk,et al.  Trust-in-supervisor and perceived fairness and accuracy of performance evaluations , 1985 .

[24]  Michelle T. Iaffaldano,et al.  Job satisfaction and job performance: A meta-analysis. , 1985 .

[25]  P. Earley,et al.  Trust, Perceived Importance of Praise and Criticism, and Work Performance: An Examination of Feedback in the United States and England , 1986 .

[26]  Larry V. Hedges,et al.  How hard is hard science, how soft is soft science? The empirical cumulativeness of research. , 1987 .

[27]  An investigation into the impact of interpersonal trust on the quality of the relationship and outcome variables in the sales manager/salesperson dyad , 1987 .

[28]  小山 和伸.  Academy of Management Review : 抄録雑誌の概要 , 1987 .

[29]  J. Scott Armstrong,et al.  International journal of public administration: Lance Eliot Brouthers, parties, ideology and elections: The politics of federal revenues and expenditures forecasting, 8 (1986) 289-314 , 1988 .

[30]  T. Tyler,et al.  The Social Psychology of Procedural Justice , 1988 .

[31]  Blair T. Johnson.  DSTAT : software for the meta-analytic review of research literatures , 1992 .

[32]  D. Collard,et al.  Trust : making and breaking cooperative relations , 1989 .

[33]  R. Folger,et al.  Effects of Procedural and Distributive Justice on Reactions to Pay Raise Decisions , 1989 .

[34]  B. Bass.  Bass & Stogdill's handbook of leadership: Theory, research, and managerial applications, 3rd ed. , 1990 .

[35]  J. Mathieu,et al.  A review and meta-analysis of the antecedents, correlates, and consequences of organizational commitment , 1990 .

[36]  Scott B. MacKenzie,et al.  Transformational leader behaviors and their effects on followers' trust in leader, satisfaction, and organizational citizenship behaviors , 1990 .

[37]  Superintendent leadership behavior and its relationship to trust and commitment of Wisconsin principals , 1990 .

[38]  A. Denisi,et al.  Communication with Employees Following a Merger: A Longitudinal Field Experiment , 1991 .

[39]  M. Konovsky,et al.  Perceived fairness of employee drug testing as a predictor of employee attitudes and job performance. , 1991, The Journal of applied psychology.

[40]  John Cordery,et al.  Attitudinal and Behavioral Effects of Autonomous Group Working: A Longitudinal Field Study , 1991 .

[41]  Karl W. Kuhnert,et al.  A Theoretical Review and Empirical Investigation of Employee Trust in Management , 1992 .

[42]  David D. Van Fleet,et al.  Theory and research on leadership in organizations. , 1992 .

[43]  Diego Gambetta.  Trust : making and breaking cooperative relations , 1992 .

[44]  Y. Fried,et al.  Personal and interpersonal predictors of supervisors' avoidance of evaluating subordinates , 1992 .

[45]  M. Armstrong-Stassen.  Production workers' reactions to a plant closing: the role of transfer, stress, and support , 1993 .

[46]  R. Mauborgne,et al.  Procedural justice, attitudes, and subsidiary top management compliance with multinationals' corporate strategic decisions. , 1993 .

[47]  H. P. Sims,et al.  Justice and organizational punishment: Attitudinal outcomes of disciplinary events , 1993 .

[48]  O. Williamson.  Calculativeness, Trust, and Economic Organization , 1993, The Journal of Law and Economics.

[49]  J. Pearce.  Toward an Organizational Behavior of Contract Laborers: Their Psychological Involvement and Effects on Employee Co-Workers. , 1993 .

[50]  J Hogan,et al.  What we know about leadership. Effectiveness and personality. , 1994, The American psychologist.

[51]  M. Konovsky,et al.  Citizenship behavior and social exchange. , 1994, Academy of Management journal. Academy of Management.

[52]  D. Rousseau,et al.  Violating the psychological contract: Not the exception but the norm , 1994 .

[53]  Roderick M. Kramer,et al.  Trust and distrust: Its psychological and social dimensions , 1994 .

[54]  Daniel J. McAllister.  Affect- and Cognition-Based Trust as Foundations for Interpersonal Cooperation in Organizations , 1995 .

[55]  Joel Brockner,et al.  Procedural Justice and Survivors Reactions to Job Layoffs , 1995 .

[56]  D. Organ,et al.  A META-ANALYTIC REVIEW OF ATTITUDINAL AND DISPOSITIONAL PREDICTORS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOR , 1995 .

[57]  M. Korsgaard,et al.  Procedural Justice in Performance Evaluation: The Role of Instrumental and Non-Instrumental Voice in Performance Appraisal Discussions , 1995 .

[58]  K. T. Liou,et al.  Understanding employee commitment in the public organization: a study of the juvenile detention center , 1995 .

[59]  R. Kramer,et al.  Trust in Organizations: Frontiers of Theory and Research , 1995 .

[60]  D. Schweiger,et al.  Building Commitment, Attachment, and Trust in Strategic Decision-Making Teams: The Role of Procedural Justice , 1995 .

[61]  J. H. Davis,et al.  An Integrative Model Of Organizational Trust , 1995 .

[62]  Ronald J. Deluga.  The Relation Between Trust in the Supervisor and Subordinate Organizational Citizenship Behavior , 1995 .

[63]  William Verdi.  Layoff survivors, layoff organizational justice and layoff explanation content: Their effects on organizational commitment and trust in management. , 1996 .

[64]  Gary G. Johnson,et al.  The interactive effects of participation and outcome favourability on turnover intentions and evaluations of supervisors , 1996 .

[65]  J. Brockner.  Understanding the interaction between procedural and distributive justice: The role of trust. , 1996 .

[66]  S. Robinson.  Trust and Breach of the Psychological Contract , 1996 .

[67]  Randall P. Settoon,et al.  Social Exchange in Organizations: Perceived Organizational Support, Leader-Member Exchange, and Employee Reciprocity , 1996 .

[68]  Scott B. MacKenzie,et al.  Transformational Leader Behaviors and Substitutes for Leadership as Determinants of Employee Satisfaction, Commitment, Trust, and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors , 1996 .

[69]  R. Lewicki,et al.  Developing and Maintaining Trust in Work Relationships , 1996 .

[70]  Edwin A. Locke,et al.  Direct and indirect effects of three core charismatic leadership components on performance and attitudes. , 1996 .

[71]  Organizational justice in an employee participation program , 1996 .

[72]  Antecedents of supervisor commitment: A causal model. , 1996 .

[73]  Steven P. Brown.  A meta-analysis and review of organizational research on job involvement. , 1996 .

[74]  Transformational Leader Behaviors and Substitutes for Leadership as Determinants of Employee Satisfaction, Commitment, Trust, and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors , 1996 .

[75]  D. Hamilton,et al.  Perceiving persons and groups. , 1996, Psychological review.

[76]  J. Brockner,et al.  When Trust Matters: The Moderating Effect of Outcome Favorability , 1997 .

[77]  Charlotte R. Gerstner,et al.  Meta-Analytic Review of Leader-Member Exchange Theory: Correlates and Construct Issues , 1997 .

[78]  Roy Payne,et al.  The nature and structure of workers' trust in management , 1997 .

[79]  Gregory A. Rich.  The sales manager as a Role model: Effects on trust, job satisfaction, and performance of salespeople , 1997 .

[80]  John D. Pettit,et al.  An Examination of Organizational Communication as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Job Performance and Job Satisfaction , 1997 .

[81]  Performance monitoring and fairness perceptions: Characteristics, context, and correlates , 1997 .

[82]  M. Audrey Korsgaard,et al.  What motivates fairness? The role of subordinate assertive behavior on manager's interactional fairness. , 1998 .

[83]  M. Popper,et al.  Correlates of Charismatic Leader Behavior in Military Units: Subordinates' Attitudes, Unit Characteristics, And Superiors' Appraisals of Leader Performance , 1998 .

[84]  Employee involvement programs in unionized settings : determinants of worker support , 1998 .

[85]  Frederick L. Oswald,et al.  On the robustness, bias, and stability of statistics from meta-analysis of correlation coefficients : Some initial Monte Carlo findings , 1998 .

[86]  Jon M. Werner,et al.  Managers as Initiators of Trust: An Exchange Relationship Framework for Understanding Managerial Trustworthy Behavior , 1998 .

[87]  The effects of subordinate competence, leader competence, leader integrity, and technology on subordinate participation seeking, performance, satisfaction, and agreement. , 1998 .

[88]  N. L. Chervany,et al.  Initial Trust Formation in New Organizational Relationships , 1998 .

[89]  Bor-Shiuan Cheng,et al.  The Influence of Relational Demography and Guanxi : the Chinese Case , 1998 .

[90]  Colin Camerer,et al.  Not So Different After All: A Cross-Discipline View Of Trust , 1998 .

[91]  Robert D. Costigan,et al.  A Multi-Dimensional Study of Trust in Organizations , 1998 .

[92]  Charles Bultena.  Social Exchange Under Fire: Direct and Moderated Effects of Job Insecurity on Social Exchange , 1998 .

[93]  G. Yukl.  An evaluation of conceptual weaknesses in transformational and charismatic leadership theories. , 1999 .

[94]  J. H. Davis,et al.  The effect of the performance appraisal system on trust for management: A field quasi-experiment. , 1999 .

[95]  Cynthia Lee,et al.  The Effects of Gender in Organizational Justice Perception , 1999 .

[96]  Ronald C. Nyhan,et al.  Increasing Affective Organizational Commitment in Public Organizations , 1999 .

[97]  Roderick M. Kramer,et al.  Trust and distrust in organizations: emerging perspectives, enduring questions. , 1999, Annual review of psychology.

[98]  C. Schriesheim,et al.  Leader–member exchange (LMX) research: A comprehensive review of theory, measurement, and data-analytic practices. , 1999 .

[99]  Chester A. Schriesheim,et al.  Fairness Perceptions and Trust as Mediators for Transformational and Transactional Leadership: A Two-Sample Study , 1999 .

[100]  John K. Butler,et al.  Transformational leadership behaviors, upward trust, and satisfaction in self-managed work teams. , 1999 .

[101]  H. Tan,et al.  Toward the differentiation of trust in supervisor and trust in organization. , 2000, Genetic, social, and general psychology monographs.

[102]  James N. MacGregor,et al.  Trust and the Design of Work Complementary Constructs in Satisfaction and Performance , 2000 .

[103]  B. Avolio,et al.  Opening the black box: An experimental investigation of the mediating effects of trust and value congruence on transformational and transactional leadership. , 2000 .

[104]  Kibeom Lee,et al.  A meta-analytic review of occupational commitment: relations with person- and work-related variables. , 2000, The Journal of applied psychology.

[105]  C. Gopinath,et al.  Communication, Procedural Justice, and Employee Attitudes: Relationships Under Conditions of Divestiture , 2000 .

[106]  Karen E. Flaherty,et al.  The Role of Trust in Salesperson—Sales Manager Relationships , 2000 .

[107]  L. H. Pelled,et al.  Relational Demography and Relationship Quality in Two Cultures , 2000 .

[108]  C. Lane,et al.  Trust within and between organizations , 2000 .

[109]  F. Schoorman,et al.  A model of relational leadership: The integration of trust and leader–member exchange , 2000 .

[110]  K. Dirks.  Trust in leadership and team performance: evidence from NCAA basketball. , 2000, The Journal of applied psychology.

[111]  Kenneth S. Law,et al.  Power-Distance, Gender and Organizational Justice , 2000 .

[112]  M. C. Rush,et al.  Altruistic Organizational Citizenship Behavior: Context, Disposition, and Age , 2000, The Journal of social psychology.

[113]  M. Maznevski,et al.  Testing the Cultural Boundaries of a Model of Trust: Subordinate-Manager Relationships in China, Norway and the United States , 2000 .

[114]  L. Eby,et al.  Perceptions of Organizational Readiness for Change: Factors Related to Employees' Reactions to the Implementation of Team-Based Selling , 2000 .

[115]  R. N. Kanungo,et al.  Charismatic leadership and follower effects , 2000 .

[116]  Donald E. Conlon,et al.  Justice at the millennium: a meta-analytic review of 25 years of organizational justice research. , 2001, The Journal of applied psychology.

[117]  D. Ferrin,et al.  The Role of Trust in Organizational Settings , 2001 .

[118]  Gregory A. Rich,et al.  Transformational and transactional leadership and salesperson performance , 2001 .

[119]  Dirk D. Steiner,et al.  Theoretical and cultural perspectives on organizational justice , 2001 .

[120]  Aneil Mishra,et al.  To stay or to go: voluntary survivor turnover following an organizational downsizing , 2002 .

[121]  Peter Y. Chen,et al.  Using Social Exchange Theory to Distinguish Procedural from Interactional Justice , 2002 .

[122]  Scott J. Behson.  Which Dominates? The Relative Importance of Work–Family Organizational Support and General Organizational Context on Employee Outcomes , 2002 .

[123]  M. Korsgaard,et al.  Trust in the face of conflict: the role of managerial trustworthy behavior and organizational context. , 2002, The Journal of applied psychology.

[124]  M. Audrey Korsgaard,et al.  Beaten Before Begun: The Role of Procedural Justice in Planning Change , 2002 .

[125]  D. Schweiger,et al.  Organization Studies , 2003 .