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Feeling trusted by business leaders in China: Antecedents and the mediating role of value congruence

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Abstract

This paper examines the antecedents of felt trust, an under-explored area in the trust literature. We hypothesized that subordinates’ felt trust would relate positively with their leaders’ moral leadership behaviors and negatively with autocratic leadership behaviors and demographic differences between leaders and themselves. We also hypothesized the above relationships to be mediated by the leader-member value congruence. Results supported our hypotheses that value congruence mediated between autocratic leadership behaviors and demographic differences and subordinates’ felt trust, but not moral leadership behaviors, which had direct effects on subordinates’ perception of feeling trusted. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

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Notes

  1. To assess the degree of congruence, we consulted many kinds of direct and indirect techniques used in Personality-Organization fit literature. Among the indirect techniques, bivariate congruence indices of algebraic (X − Y), absolute (|X − Y|), or squared difference (X − Y)2 have been typically used. In the case of multiple predictors, researchers are used to combining them into a Profile similarity indices (PSIs) such as the sum of algebraic difference (D 1), the sum of absolute differences (|D|), the Euclidean distance (D), or the correlation between two profiles (Q) (Chatman, 1991; Edwards, 1993; Kristof, 1996).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong

    Dora C. Lau & Ping Ping Fu

  2. Business School, Renmin University, Beijing, China

    Jun Liu

Authors
  1. Dora C. Lau
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  2. Jun Liu
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  3. Ping Ping Fu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dora C. Lau.

Appendix

Appendix

Measurement scales used in this study:

Feeling Trusted

  1. 1.

    Delegates important work to me

  2. 2.

    Empowering me with great decision-making power

  3. 3.

    Consults with me confidential information within my organization

  4. 4.

    Informs me his/her personal developmental plans

Values used in measuring Value Congruence

  1. 1.

    Employee orientation

  2. 2.

    Customer satisfaction

  3. 3.

    Impact on environment

  4. 4.

    Long-term competitive capability

  5. 5.

    Firm profitability

Moral Leadership Behaviors

  1. 1.

    Administers rewards in a fair manner

  2. 2.

    Uses a common standard to evaluate all who report to him/her

  3. 3.

    Ensures that his/her behaviors are moral

Autocratic Leadership Behaviors

  1. 1.

    Makes decisions in dictatorial way

  2. 2.

    Is a loner, tends to work and act separately from others

  3. 3.

    Tells subordinates what to do in a commanding way

  4. 4.

    Is inclined to dominate others

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Lau, D.C., Liu, J. & Fu, P.P. Feeling trusted by business leaders in China: Antecedents and the mediating role of value congruence. Asia Pacific J Manage 24, 321–340 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-006-9026-z

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