How subordinates reciprocate supervisor´s trust: A cross-level model

Trust in leadership is regarded as the critical component of leader effectiveness. While how subordinates reciprocate trust from supervisor is recognized as a particular silent issue. The current study examines such focusing factors of subordinates´ trust in supervisor as supervisor´s trust propensity, trust in subordinates, and subordinates´ psychological empowerment. In the model we propose, supervisor´s trust propensity exhibits a cross-level effect on subordinates´ trust. And this effect is mediated by two individual constructs as trust in subordinates and psychological empowerment. While, in the individual level the effect of supervisor´s trust on trust in supervisor is partially mediated by psychological empowerment. The mechanism of how subordinates reciprocate supervisor´s trust also has great implications for trust reciprocation in general network empowerment.