Trust‐in‐supervisor and helping coworkers: moderating effect of perceived politics

Purpose – This study sought to examine the relationship between trust‐in‐supervisor and willingness to help coworkers as well as the moderating effect of perceptions of organizational politics on this relationship. Design/methodology/approach – A field survey using a structured questionnaire was used to gather data from 106 employees of a medium‐sized company that had businesses in the manufacturing, travel, and education industries. Participation was voluntary and employees completed the questionnaire anonymously. Findings – Moderated multiple regression results indicated that trust‐in‐supervisor was positively related to employee willingness to help coworkers among employees perceiving low levels of organizational politics but not among those perceiving high levels of organizational politics. Research limitations/implications – The limitations of this study include reliance on cross‐sectional data collected using self‐reports from employees of a single organization. Future research should examine other forms of spontaneous workplace behaviors as outcomes of trust and identify other mitigating factors that may enhance or inhibit such behaviors. Future research also is needed to address the question of why trust predicts helping. Practical implications – Employers can realize the benefits of employee helpfulness stemming from supervisory trust only if they can establish a workplace that is not politically charged. Therefore, trust must be augmented with organizational interventions and strategies that discourage a high level of politicking. Originality/value – This study provides what is perhaps the first empirical test of the joint contribution of trust and perceptions of organizational politics on willingness to help. In addition, the findings of this study extend the organizational politics literature by showing that perceived politics might also act as a moderator of relationships.