What trust grows through upward influence?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discern whether upward influence behavior, with its antecedents such as organizational culture and leadership, can cultivate organizational trust, with particular reference to manufacturing companies in the plastics industry in Vietnam. Design/methodology/approach – Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used for the analysis of 418 responses returned from self‐administered structured questionnaires sent to 655 middle level managers. Findings – From the findings emerged the linkage pattern of knowledge‐based trust or identity‐based trust and organizationally beneficial upward influence behavior. Ad hocracy, market, and clan cultures and transformational leadership were found to cultivate organizationally‐beneficial upward influence strategies, which in turn cultivate knowledge‐based or identity‐based trust. Originality/value – The paper discerns the interplay between culture and leadership on the upward influence behaviors, which in turn influence organizational trust. The paper's findings provide insight into the interplay pattern of trust and its antecedents and underscore the magnitude of ad hocracy, market, and clan culture types, as well as transformational leadership style in the building of organizationally‐beneficial upward influence strategies in plastic manufacturing companies in the Vietnam business setting.