Organizational ethical climates and employee's trust in colleagues, the supervisor, and the organization

Organizational ethical climate (OEC) is an important aspect of the organizational context that has generated a consolidated stream of research. However, the literature exploring its impact on organizational trust has three key limitations: scarcity, fragmentation, and under-theorization. In an attempt to address these limitations, we examine the effects of employees' perceptions of three types of OEC - benevolent, principled and egoistic and organizational trust in different referents - colleagues, the supervisor, and the organization. We develop a set of baseline hypotheses on the effects of three types of OEC on trust in colleagues, in the supervisor, and in the organization. Drawing on Attribution Theory and Social Exchange Theory, we develop specific hypotheses on the relative strengths of those associations. The hypotheses are tested on a large-scale, probabilistic sample of 6000 employees in six EU countries. The paper concludes by discussing the findings, presenting their practical implications, and proposing avenues for future research

Self-directed learning and absorptive capacity: the mediating role of trust and human capital

This chapter aims to provide a better understanding of how self-directed learning effects absorptive capacity by examining the influence of two mediators: specifically, affective trust in colleagues and human capital development climate. By using a sample of 181 participants from the creative industries sector, a sequential mediation via a three-step causal chain was conducted. This chapter contributes to human resource development and strategic management literature in showing that self-directed learning does not only have a strong effect on the organisational capability, but it also has an impact at the group-level dynamics involving trust and organisational-level climate. These findings show that organisations need to design jobs that allow discretion and autonomy from staff to shape their own learning and to cultivate an environment that recognises and rewards learning