Trust and supervisor organizational embodiment: A between‐ and within‐person investigation

Abstract How does trust in supervisors as organizational representatives vs. as independent persons, as captured by the interaction of cognition‐based trust in the supervisor and supervisor organizational embodiment (SOE), influence employees' responses to supervisors? We examine this question at the between‐ and within‐person levels. Using two‐wave data from 221 Chinese employees, Study 1 finds that, at the between‐person level, the relation between cognition‐based trust in the supervisor and affective commitment to the supervisor is stronger at lower levels of SOE (i.e., when supervisors are perceived as individual persons irrespective of their organizational role). Based on three‐wave longitudinal data from 212 North American and European employees, Study 2 finds that, at the within‐person level, the initial level of cognition‐based trust in the supervisor is related to a sharper decline in affective commitment to the supervisor and perceived leadership effectiveness over time when SOE is low. The implications of these findings are discussed.