An Empirical Study on the Organizational Trust

This case study explores the relationship between an organization and its employees. The researchers used social exchange theory and inducement-contribution theory to conduct the study. The research aimed to determine if employees are more innovative when organizational trust is high.

2. Theory and Hypotheses

2.6. The Moderated Mediating Effect of Organizational Trust

Finally, we propose that innovative climate does not only moderate the relationship between organizational trust and innovative behavior, but also moderates the indirect effect of EOR on innovative behavior via organizational trust. We expect that organizational trust mediates the relationship between EOR and innovative behavior (H4), and innovative climate positively moderates the effect of organizational trust on innovative behavior (H5). Combining the logic of these two hypotheses, we propose that the innovative climate moderates the indirect effect of EOR on innovative behavior through organizational trust (H6), which is a type of moderated-mediation model proposed by Edwards and his colleague. Although there are many forms of moderated-mediation models in Edwards and Lambert's research, we predict: (1) organizational trust mediates the relationship between EOR and innovative behavior (H4); (2) innovative climate moderates the relationship between organizational and innovative behavior (H5); therefore, innovative climate will moderate the original mediating effect (H6). Hence, we propose the following hypothesis, and Figure 1 depicts our theoretical model.

Figure 1. Research model.

H6: Innovative climate moderates the mediating effect of EOR on innovative behavior via organizational trust, such that the mediating effect is stronger when innovative climate is strong.