The role of organizational trust and organizational support on employees' well-being.

BACKGROUND: In available scientific literature, the impact of organizational trust and perceived organizational support on employees' wellbeing has mainly been investigated without focusing on the different targets they can refer to.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study is to test the direct role of these variables as precursors of well-being, job satisfaction and turnover intentions, by distinguishing two different levels in trust and support: the first one stemming from the employees' own team (in which employees have direct and daily interpersonal relationships, and within which they build their work experience), the second stemming from the organization itself.

METHODS: In this study, a survey was administered to more than 1,000 employees of a Sicilian hospital. The relationships between the variables were studied through the use of hierarchical regression analysis.

RESULTS: Trust and perceived support are both significant predictors of mental and physical health (team trust: β=.088; organizational trust: β=.110; team support: β=.245; organizational support: β=.082), job satisfaction (team trust: β=.245; organizational trust: β=.222; team support: β=.209; organizational support: β=.168) and turnover intentions (team trust: β=- .086; organizational trust: β=-.164; team support: β=-.166; organizational support: β=.064). However, the support at the team level is a more important predictor, while trust is a stronger predictor at the organizational level.

CONCLUSIONS: Distinguishing between team and organizational levels of trust and support allows to better understand the relationship between trust and support and wellbeing and organizational outcomes such as job satisfaction and turnover intentions. Practical implications, as well as future research, should therefore refer to the different levels of such predictors.