Cognition-based and affect-based trust in supervisor and job engagement: Evidence from Malaysia

Job engagement is a motivational latent construct represented by cognitive, emotional, and physical energies employees choose to invest into jobs. Despite the importance of trust in supervisor and its positive outcomes, little attention has been paid to examine its effect on subordinates’ job engagement, and even less is known about mechanisms that might exist in this relationship. The aim of this study, thus, was to examine the effects of cognition-based and affect-based trust in supervisor on job engagement. Further, drawing from the engagement model of Kahn (1990) and social exchange theory, the mediating roles of psychological safety and felt obligation in the trust-engagement relationship were also investigated. Although trust is a reciprocal and dynamic construct that continually evolves in relationships, this study captures a snapshot in time within this dynamic trust-engagement relationship by using self-report questionnaires to gather data from 415 nurses working in a large Malaysian public hospital. Structural equation modeling results indicated that cognition-based trust in supervisor was both related directly and indirectly to job engagement. Affect-based trust in supervisor, however, was only indirectly related to job engagement. Moreover, only felt obligation, and not psychological safety, mediated the trust-engagement relationship. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.