Affective Trust in the Supervisor and Innovative Work Behavior: The Effects of Proactive Skill Development and Learning Goal Orientation

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to examine the relationship between affective trust in the supervisor and innovative work behavior. In addition, this paper investigated the mediating role of proactive skill development in the affective trust - innovative work behavior relationship and the moderating role of learning goal orientation in the affective trust – proactive skill development relationship. Data for this study were collected from 220 employees drawn from four FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) companies based in Pakistan. Multiple regression analyses and the bootstrapping procedure were used to test the research hypotheses. Results revealed that proactive skill development partially mediated the effects of affective trust in the supervisor on innovative work behavior. Furthermore, we found that learning goal orientation strengthened the direct effect of affective trust in the supervisor on proactive skill development and also strengthened its indirect effect on innovative work behavior. The theoretical and practical implications of our results and the limitations of this research are discussed.

Keywords:

• Innovation
• personality
• interpersonal relations

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no financial support for this research.

Notes on contributors

Aamir Ali Chughtai

Aamir Ali Chughtai obtained his PhD in Organizational Behavior from the Dublin City University, Ireland. Currently, he is working as a faculty member at the School of Business, Forman Christian College University, Lahore, Pakistan. His research interests include work engagement, organizational trust, leadership, and job attitudes.

Shehla R. Arifeen

Shehla R. Arifeen obtained her PhD from Lancaster University Management School at the Department of Management Learning and Leadership. She is a faculty member of the Department of Business Administration, at the Lahore School of Economics, Pakistan. Shehla is also an Honorary Scholar at the University of Liverpool Management School. Her research work focuses on women in organizations, women as entrepreneurs, leadership, power, and resistance in organizations.