Review of Managerial Science

, Volume 10, Issue 4, pp 629–648 | Cite as

Is trust in leadership a mediator between transformational leadership and in-role performance among small-scale factory workers?

  • Leonard I. Ugwu
  • Ibeawuchi K. Enwereuzor
  • Esther U. Orji
Original Paper
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

Globalization and the transformation of the organizational scene are increasing the pressure and threshold for employees to constantly perform maximum output. As such, the measure of success for many organizations is determined by their productivity level. Therefore, we believe that the leadership style adopted by the leader and the level of trust subordinates have in such a leader may be salient in determining the level of in-role performance of the subordinates in question. This study therefore tries to shed light on this issue by testing the hypotheses that transformational leadership and trust in leadership would significantly predict in-role performance, and that trust in leadership would further mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and in-role performance. A sample of 170 factory workers (subordinates) and 6 supervisors participated in the study. The subordinates completed measures of transformational leadership and trust in leadership while that of in-role performance of these subordinates was based on the ratings of their immediate supervisors. The results of the Hierarchical Multiple Regression showed that only transformational leadership positively predicted in-role performance, whereas trust in leadership failed to predict or even mediate this relationship. The study discussed the implications of the findings, limitations, and suggestions for prospective research.

Keywords

Transformational leadership Trust in leadership Job performance In-role performance 

JEL Classification

L8 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

We thank the anonymous reviewers for their insightful and constructive criticism of earlier drafts of this article.

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

Authors and Affiliations

  • Leonard I. Ugwu
    • 1
  • Ibeawuchi K. Enwereuzor
    • 1
  • Esther U. Orji
    • 2
  1. 1.Department of PsychologyUniversity of NigeriaNsukkaNigeria
  2. 2.Department of General StudiesAkanu Ibiam Federal PolytechnicUnwanaNigeria

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