Organizational ethical climates and employee's trust in colleagues, the supervisor, and the organization

Organizational ethical climate (OEC) is an important aspect of the organizational context that has generated a consolidated stream of research. However, the literature exploring its impact on organizational trust has three key limitations: scarcity, fragmentation, and under-theorization. In an attempt to address these limitations, we examine the effects of employees' perceptions of three types of OEC — benevolent, principled and egoistic — and organizational trust in different referents – colleagues, the supervisor, and the organization. We develop a set of baseline hypotheses on the effects of three types of OEC on trust in colleagues, in the supervisor, and in the organization. Drawing on Attribution Theory and Social Exchange Theory, we develop specific hypotheses on the relative strengths of those associations. The hypotheses are tested on a large-scale, probabilistic sample of 6000 employees in six EU countries. The paper concludes by discussing the findings, presenting their practical implications, and proposing avenues for future research.