Organizational Trust and Emotional Commitment to the Organization in the Social Change Process: A Survey at a Public University

Change, as an irresistable phenomenon, is also a fact in the social sphere. Social change refers to the transition from one social structure to another. In other words, social change is an important change in the structure of a society. Social change occurs in the structure of a society, its institutions, or the relations of institutions with each other. This change occurs in many areas of life. Political, economic and cultural areas are some of them. Social change is continuous. Organizations are elements of social structure. For this reason, organizations are affected by change and affect change. Trust is one of the most important elements of social change. Trust is even the basis of social change. Organizational trust is an organization-oriented issue rather than an individual. Organizational trust forms the basis of both vertical and horizontal relations in the organization. Trust is an important factor affecting success in organizations. Confidence in organizations increases success. Another factor that increases organizational success is emotional commitment to the organization. Emotional commitment to the organization is the employee s desire to remain a member of the organization by adopting the objectives of the organization. Organizational trust and emotional commitment affect each other mutually. As a result of organizational trust, employees are more strongly attached to the organization. Because employees in an organization with a high sense of trust establish healthy relationships with each other and with their superiors. This increases their emotional commitment to the organization.The aim of this study is to determine the organizational trust and emotional commitment of academic and administrative staff in a public university. Social change, organizational trust and emotional commitment to the organization were discussed in the study. A total of 333 staffs were participated by face-to-face questionnaire and the data obtained were analyzed by SPSS 20 program. The questionnaire consists of three parts. The first part consists of questions about the demographic characteristics of the participants. In the second part, organizational trust inventory scale and interpersonal confidence scale were used to determine participants attitudes towards organizational trust. In the third part, the emotional commitment component of the organizational commitment scale was used to determine the participants attitudes towards emotional commitment to the organization. Organizational trust and emotional commitment of participants were determined. In the research, a positive relationship between organizational trust and emotional commitment to the organization was determined.