We Trust You! A Multilevel-Multireferent Model Based on Organizational Trust to Explain Performance

Marisa Salanova, Hedy Acosta-Antognoni, Susana Llorens and Pascale Le Blanc
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Marisa Salanova: WANT Research Team, Universitat Jaume I, 12071 Castelló de la Plana, Spain
Hedy Acosta-Antognoni: Faculty of Psychology, Universidad of Talca, 3460000 Talca, Chile
Susana Llorens: WANT Research Team, Universitat Jaume I, 12071 Castelló de la Plana, Spain
Pascale Le Blanc: Human Performance Management Group, Eindhoven University of Technology, 5612 AZ Eindhoven, The Netherlands

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 8, 1-21

Abstract: This study tests organizational trust as the psychosocial mechanism that explains how healthy organizational practices and team resources predict multilevel performance in organizations and teams, respectively. In our methodology, we collect data in a sample of 890 employees from 177 teams and their immediate supervisors from 31 Spanish companies. Our results from the multilevel analysis show two independent processes predicting organizational performance (return on assets, ROA) and performance ratings by immediate supervisors, operating at the organizational and team levels, respectively. We have found evidence for a theoretical and functional quasi-isomorphism. First, based on social exchange theory, we found evidence for our prediction that when organizations implement healthy practices and teams provide resources, employees trust their top managers (vertical trust) and coworkers (horizontal trust) and try to reciprocate these benefits by improving their performance. Second, (relationships among) constructs are similar at different levels of analysis, which may inform HRM officers and managers about which type of practices and resources can help to enhance trust and improve performance in organizations. The present study contributes to the scarce research on the role of trust at collective (i.e., organizational and team) levels as a psychological mechanism that explains how organizational practices and team resources are linked to organizational performance.

Keywords: healthy organizational practices; team resources; vertical trust; horizontal trust; performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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