The Problem
- One imperative of effective leadership is inspiring and winning the trust of others.
- Distrust affects an organization’s performance negatively as high levels of trust affect performance positively. The issue of trust is, therefore, a major bottom-line issue.
- Hurley (2006) found that of 450 executives across 30 companies globally, almost half of all managers did not trust their leaders.
Research Questions
- What trust-producing behaviors may leaders adopt in order to respond to the needs and expectations of employees?
- What is the relationship among the behaviours?
Research Methodology
- The study uses an exploratory descriptive quantitative research design and a convenience sampling technique with a sample of 97 teachers.
- The instrument was tested for reliability using Chronbach’s alpha and generated a result of .938, which exceeds the ideal reliability reading of .90 suggested by Nunnally (1978).
Results
Trust-producing behaviours:
- Trusting in the collective wisdom of staff
- Encouraging diversity of perspectives
- Willingness to debate issues in situations where opinions differ
- Being a good listener
- Promoting collective responsibility
- Responding positively to staff when there is disagreement
Figure 1 Relationship among Trust-producing behaviours

Impact for Society
Improvements in trust in the workplace,has implications for employee and organizational health. It is a psychological, sociological, and managerial issue which ultimately impacts on productivity and innovation and by extension employee commitment and organizational profitability. It is, therefore, a principal duty of the leader to create the conditions for trust.