Reciprocity of trust between managers and team members
| Published date | 12 November 2019 |
| Date | 12 November 2019 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-08-2018-0319 |
| Pages | 653-669 |
| Author | Vicente Martínez-Tur,Agustín Molina,Carolina Moliner,Esther Gracia,Luisa Andreu,Enrique Bigne,Oto Luque |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM |
Reciprocity of trust between
managers and team members
Vicente Martínez-Tur
Faculty of Psychology and IDOCAL, Universitat de Valencia, Valencia, Spain
Agustín Molina
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Carolina Moliner and Esther Gracia
Faculty of Psychology and IDOCAL, Universitat de Valencia, Valencia, Spain
Luisa Andreu and Enrique Bigne
Faculty of Economics, Department of Marketing,
Universitat de Valencia, Valencia, Spain, and
Oto Luque
Faculty of Psychology and IDOCAL, Universitat de Valencia, Valencia, Spain
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to propose that the manager’s perception of the service quality
delivered by his/her team acts as a precursor of his/her trust in team members. In turn, the manager’s trust in
team members is related to team members’trust in the manager. Furthermore, engagement and burnout at
the individual level are considered outcomes of trust reciprocity.
Design/methodology/approach –The authors test this trust-mediated multilevel model with a sample of
95 managers and 754 team members working in services for people with intellectual disability. These services
are delivered by team-based structures of workers who perform coordinated tasks.
Findings –The findings suggest that service quality delivered by team members is positively and
significantly related to the manager’s trust in them. The results also suggest that the manager’s trust in team
members leads to the trust that managers received by team members. Finally, team members who trust their
managers show less burnout and high engagement.
Research limitations/implications –Previous literature has neglected the reciprocity of trust. In contrast,
this research study considered the perspective of both managers and team members and how this reciprocity
of trust is related to service quality and well-being at work.
Practical implications –The current study highlights the critical role of service quality and achieving
high-quality relationships between managers and team members.
Originality/value –Performance and well-being are compatible because team members’efforts are
compensated by forming relationships with managers based on trust, and the quality of these relationships,
in turn, prevents burnout and stimulates engagement among employees.
Keywords Quantitative, Service quality, Burnout, Trust reciprocity, Manager–team member relationship
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Service quality is a central aspect of performance in social and health sectors due to its relevance
for customers in terms of health and well-being (Gruber and Frugone, 2011; Molina et al., 2015;
Schalock et al., 2008). Service quality is increasingly delivered by teams. In fact, organizations
are experiencing a shift toward team-based structures (Colquitt et al., 2005; Li et al.,2018).Thisis
evident in the context of the current research study: organizations for vulnerable people
(i.e. individuals with intellectual disability) (Clare et al., 2017; Molan et al., 2018). In this type of
organizations, like in other social and health care services, different types of professionals work
Personnel Review
Vol. 49 No. 2, 2020
pp. 653-669
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/PR-08-2018-0319
Received 29 August 2018
Revised 27 April 2019
15 July 2019
Accepted 4 August 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0048-3486.htm
The authors would like to thank “Plena Inclusión”and associated centers that participated in the
studies. This work was supported by the Spanish “Agencia Estatal de Investigación”(I+D+i projects,
PSI2013-48509-P and PSI2016-78158-R) and FEDER.
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Reciprocity of
trust
together in teams to deliver complex therapeutic, social and educational services. Opportunities
for better performance emerge in teams, based on aspects such as an increased use of members’
capabilities (Troth et al., 2012) and greater coordination among members (Gittell, 2002).
In addition, team-based structures can offer richer jobs for members in terms of autonomy and
flexibility, with positive effects on their well-being (van Mierlo et al., 2007). However, the
emergence of these positive outcomes depends on the quality of the relationship between
managers and team members, and trust between them plays a critical role. Trust is an attitude
that describes a trustor’s summary evaluation of the other party in a relationship (Korsgaard
et al., 2015; Martínez-Tur and Peiró, 2009).
Trust between managers and team members occurs within a relationship. This relationship
refers to the interaction between managers and team members in performing tasks and
achieving expected objectives. Considering the two sides of trust offers a better picture of the
interaction than the consideration of only one perspective (Korsgaard et al., 2015). In the current
research study, we focus on reciprocity of trust between managers and team members in a
specialized organizational context providing services to individuals with intellectual disability.
Despite the significance of trust reciprocity between the parties in a relationship, most of the
previous literature tends to view trust in only one direction (see Serva et al., 2005), either the
employee’s trust in the supervisor or manager (see Bijlsma and van de Bunt, 2003; Connell et al.,
2003; Yagil, 2014) or the supervisor’strustinworkteams(Costaet al., 2018). These approaches
neglect the reciprocity models, with notable exceptions, such as the empirical work by Seppälä
et al. (2011) and the conceptual contribution of Korsgaard et al. (2015). De Jong et al. (2017), in
their recent content analysis, also pointed out the need to go beyond the dominant unilateral
approach where trust is approached exclusively from the perspective of a single trustor.
With this in mind, we propose and test a mediation model that integrates service quality
delivered by team members, reciprocity of trust between managers and team members, and
employees’levels of burnout and engagement (see Figure 1). The first step of the model
suggests that service quality delivered by team members is critical for understanding
manager’s trust in team members. It is expected that the service quality perceived by the
manager explains trust in team members because adequate delivery of services, from the
perspectiveof the manager, informs him/her aboutthe achievement of critical goalsrelated to
the attention to service users. Of course, it is reasonable to assume that the service quality
delivered by team members is partly based on the quality of the manager’s leadership. The
second step of the model considers the reciprocity of trust between managers and team
members (Seppäläet al., 2011). More specifically, when managers trust their team members it
is likely that team members reciprocate trusting their managers. Finally,the third step of our
model proposes that the quality of the relationship between managers and team members,
Trust in the
manager
Trust in team
members
Service
quality
Team members
Managers
Engagement
Burnout
Note: Non-shaded variables were rated by managers; shaded variables
were rated by team members
Figure 1.
Reciprocal trust model
between the manager
and team members
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