The link between service climate, its antecedents and consequences : collective felt trust as a mediator

Abstract

Based on previous literature, it is evident that organizational resources and leadership behavior influence employees’ positive perception of a service climate, which subsequently leads to improved unit performance. Still, researchers stress the need to explore this relationship in combination with other possible mediators to understand the underlying mechanisms. Very little attention is previously given to the effect of collective felt trust, although felt trust is considered critical for a unit to function well. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between collective felt trust and service climate, by proposing collective felt trust as a mediator between service climate and two of its antecedents; organizational resources and leadership. We built on LMX theory, and aimed at exploring the relationship between leadership and service climate by looking at both the economic and social component (i.e. SLMX and ELMX). A cross-sectional survey of 238 employees among 48 units revealed that collective felt trust mediates the relationship between organizational resources and service climate, and we found a positive relationship between collective felt trust and unit performance. As a consequence of a high correlation between SLMX and collective felt trust, the relationship between SLMX, collective felt trust, and service climate was not explored. However, preliminary results show that SLMX and service climate was strongly related. There was no support for collective felt trust as a mediator between ELMX and service climate, and ELMX did not have a significant effect on neither collective felt trust nor service climate. Also, service climate was not significantly related to unit performance. The study implies that important predictors for service climate are SLMX and organizational resources, and felt trust among employees can explain why accessibility to resources can lead to a positive perception of a service climate. Keywords: service climate, organizational resources, social leader-member exchange, economic leader-member exchange, collective felt trust, unit performance, structural equation model