组织信任氛围对任务绩效的作用途径

The Mechanism of How Trust Climate Impacts on Individual Performance

通过问卷调查与结构方程建模分析组织信任对于员工工作绩效的影响途径。203名被试和他们的上司参与了问卷调查。结果分析采用潜变量路径分析方法。我们构建多组模型与构思模型,通过两个阶段的检验,分析了组织信任的作用机制。结果表明:组织信任作用于心理安全感,而心理安全感通过两条独立途径影响工作绩效,分别是工作聚焦与工作改进。心理安全感能够促进员工针对工作的不断改进的行为和探索新工作方法的意愿,同时也有利于员工集中精力在工作上,从而提高个人工作业绩。

This paper explored the mechanism through which trust climate influences on individual performance. From the scope of psychological dynamics, we investigated the relationship among perception of organizational climate, motivation and individual behaviors to crystallize how a trustworthy organizational environment favors superior individual performance. The primary aim of this paper is to examine the idea that trust climate enhances levels of psychological safety, which has two independent ways to impact on task performance. First, psychological safety diminishes apprehension about the potential negative consequences of innovative or learning behaviors （enhance the possibility of spontaneous innovation）, such as failure or exposure of lack in knowledge or expertise. Second, psychological safety keeps employees from distracters （increase the ability to focus）, such as organizational politics, which occupy great amount of employee＇s time and energy. With more available resource that could be allocated to behaviors benefiting organization productivity, individuals are likely to have better performance. The two paths are hypothesized to be mutually complementary, and each of them accounts for different mechanisms through which trust climate facilitates superior individual oerformance. Data were obtained from 203 full - time employees of three companies in the eastern China. To avoid the effect of common method bias, we collected employee＇s psychological states data and their performance information separately （performance data were rated by employee＇s direct leader）. Considering the susceptibility of trust research to social desirability, we employed Aryee＇s sampling procedure （2002） that is regarded as an effective solution to diminish negative outcome of social desirability. The statistical package of LISREL 8.45 was used to examine the hypotheses. The procedure of testing mediator proposed by Baron ＆ Kendy （1980） was followed to scrutinize the relations between variables. In the first stage of data analysis, we tested the hypothesis whether psychological safety mediates the relationship between trust climate and individual performance. In order to provide a stringent examination of our hypotheses, two alternative nested models were established and compared with the hypothesized model. It was revealed that effect of trust climate on task performance is mediated by psychological safety. In the second stage of data analysis, we examined the mediating role of spontaneous innovation and ability to focus in the process that psychological safety translates into performance. Following the same logic employed in the first stage, seven nested alternative models were constructed for comparisons. Results supported the mediating effect of spontaneous innovation and ability to focus, and it also indicated the existence of other potential way（s） that psychological safety impacts on performance, beyond the two paths examined in this article. Finally, the theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.