Feeling Trusted or Feeling Used? The Relationship Between Perceived Leader Trust, Reciprocation Wariness, and Proactive Behavior

Figures & data

Figure 1 The hypothesized model.

Table 1 Demographics

Statistical Variables	Option	% of Respondents	Number
Gender	Male	61.29%	228
	Female	38.70%	144
Age	≤24	21.77%	81
	25–34	52.96%	197
	35–44	18%	67
	≥45	7.26%	27
Education Level	High school or below	25.54%	95
	Junior college	26.61%	99
	Undergraduate education	37.90%	141
	Graduate education or above	9.94%	37
Working years	≤5 years	23.92%	89
	6–10 years	50.00%	186
	11–15 years	15.05%	56
	More than 16 years	11.02%	41

Table 2 Comparison of Measurement Model

Model	χ^2 /df	df	χ^2	RMSEA	CFI	TLI
Single-factor	2.95	560	1610.49	0.085	0.773	0.712
Two-factor	2.87	559	1605.61	0.076	0.897	0.880
Three-factor	2.85	557	1589.79	0.071	0.901	0.891
Four-factor	2.77	554	1538.31	0.069	0.923	0.916
Baseline model	2.41	550	1431.96	0.058	0.951	0.949

Notes: 1) Single factor model: perceived trust + sense of self-worth + sense of role overload + proactive behavior + reciprocation wariness; 2) two-factor model: perceived trust + sense of self-worth + sense of role overload, proactive behavior + reciprocation wariness; 3) three-factor model: perceived trust, sense of self-worth + sense of role overload, proactive behavior + reciprocation wariness; 4) four-factor model: perceived trust, sense of self-worth + sense of role overload, proactive behavior, reciprocation wariness.

Table 3 Model Discriminant Results

Variables	Item	Factor Loading	CR	AVE	Square Root of AVE
1 Perceived leader trust	6	0.57~0.86	0.88	0.71	0.84
2 Sense of self-worth	7	0.82~0.91	0.93	0.61	0.78
3 Sense of role overload	4	0.87~0.92	0.91	0.67	0.82
4 Reciprocation wariness	9	0.76~0.84	0.86	0.66	0.81
5 Employee’s proactive behavior	9	0.68~0.86	0.90	0.72	0.85

Table 4 Descriptive Statistics: Mean, SD, and Inter-Item Correlation Co-Efficient

Variable	Mean	SD	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
1 Gender	1.47	0.50	1
2 Age	2.24	1.03	−0.01	1
3 Educational background	2.78	0.74	0.01	−0.07	1
4 Working year	2.06	0.83	0.06	0.11 *	−0.14*	1
5 Perceived leader trust	4.74	1.08	−0.03	0.05	0.08	−0.13*	1
6 Reciprocation wariness	4.33	1.41	−0.04	0.04	0.04	0.09	−0.34*	1
7 Sense of self-worth	5.14	1.24	0.04	0.05	0.05	−0.09	0.45**	−0.32**	1
8 Sense of role overload	4.61	1.04	0.12*	0.19	0.05	−0.03	0.12*	0.05	−0.10	1
9 Employee’s proactive behavior	5.10	0.90	−0.02	0.02	−0.06	−0.01	0.37**	−0.34**	0.27**	−0.12*	1

Note: Two-tailed test; N = 372. **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05.

Table 5 Regression Results

Variable	Sense of Self-Worth		Sense of Role Overload
	M1	M2	M3	M4
Gender	0.12(0.11)	0.12(0.10)	0.41(0.16)	0.41(0.16)
Age	0.05(0.05)	0.04(0.05)	0.02(0.08)	0.03(0.08)
Educational background	0.03(0.08)	−0.02(0.07)	0.07(0.11)	0.09(0.11)
Working year	−0.05(0.07)	−0.05(0.07)	−0.05(0.10)	−0.05(0.10)
Perceived leader trust	0.33** (0.06)	1.11**(0.22)	0.22*(0.08)	−0.27(0.22)
Reciprocation wariness	−0.20**(0.04)	0.74** (0.13)	0.14*(.06)	−0.32 (0.21)
Sense of self-worth
Sense of role overload
Perceived trust× Reciprocation wariness		−0.19*** (0.03)		0.11* (0.04)
R^2	0.23	0.33	0.04	0.05
ΔR^2	0.22**	0.09**	0.02*	0.01*

Notes: N = 372; unstandardized regression coefficients are reported. Values in bold are relevant to tests of hypotheses. ***p < 0.001, **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05.

Figure 2 The interactive effects of perceived leader trust and reciprocation on sense of self-worth.

Figure 3 The interactive effects of perceived leader trust and reciprocation on sense of role overload.

Table 6 Conditional Indirect Effect

Mediating Variable	Regulating Variable	Effect	Standard Error	Lower 95%BC CI	Upper 95%BC CI
Sense of self-worth	High value	0.03	0.02	−0.004	0.067
	Low value	0.06	0.03	0.007	0.126
	Difference value	−0.03	0.02	−0.011	−0.002
Sense of role overload	High value	−0.03	0.01	−0.047	−0.010
	Low value	0.01	0.01	−0.022	0.022
	Difference value	−0.03	0.01	−0.056	−0.006

Note: CIs were calculated using the Monte Carlo method with 5000 repetitions.