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The distinctive effects of dual-level leadership behaviors on employees’ trust in leadership: An empirical study from China

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Abstract

The loss of trust within and between organizations has become serious worldwide, especially in China. In this study, we seek to explain why as well as how leaders at two different levels (i.e., the top management and the supervisory levels) affect employees’ trust in leadership at the two levels distinctively, especially in the context of China as an emerging economy. Adopting the perspective of multi-level social exchanges within organizations, we develop a dual-level model with perceived organizational support and leader–member exchange as two major mediating mechanisms for the distinctive effects of transformational leadership behaviors on employees’ trust in leadership at both top management and supervisory levels, respectively. The empirical evidence based on a sample of 357 Chinese employees and their supervisors supports the proposed model. Both theoretical and practical implications of our findings are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Management, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian Province, 361005, People’s Republic of China

    Yuntao Bai

  2. Department of International Economics and Management, Asia Research Center, Copenhagen Business School, Porcelænshaven 22, 3rd Floor, DK2000, Frederiksberg, Denmark

    Peter Ping Li

  3. Xi’an-Liverpool University, No. 111 Ren’ai Road, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, 215123, China

    Youmin Xi

  4. School of Management, Xi’an Jiaotong University, 28 Xianning West Road, Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, 710049, China

    Youmin Xi

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  1. Yuntao Bai
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  3. Youmin Xi
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Correspondence to Yuntao Bai.

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This study is funded by grants from National Natural Science Foundation (no. 71032002, no. 70872094), Ministry of Education (no. 10YJC630003, no. 20110121120027), and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (no. 2011221017).

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Bai, Y., Li, P.P. & Xi, Y. The distinctive effects of dual-level leadership behaviors on employees’ trust in leadership: An empirical study from China. Asia Pac J Manag 29, 213–237 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-011-9280-6

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