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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Organizational Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1526860
This article is part of the Research Topic Creative Organization Development through Leadership View all 19 articles
The Subtle Balance of Trust: How Employees' Expected and Perceived Trust Influence Impression Management
Provisionally accepted
Minmin Zhang 1
Xiaodong Ma 2*- 1 The Army Infantry College of PLA, No. 940, Zhongshan West Road, Qiaoxi District, Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province, China
- 2 Central University of Finance and Economics, No. 39, Xueyuan South Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China
Introduction: This study examines how employees expected and perceived trust influence impression management strategies, focusing on their interplay in shaping pro-social and self-oriented behaviors. Trust is pivotal in organizations, yet research has overlooked the impact of trust mismatches on impression management. Addressing this gap, we analyze the effects of trust congruence and explore behavioral variations under different trust combinations.Methods：Using a quantitative approach, we analyze survey data from employees across various enterprises. To test the hypotheses, we first conducted polynomial regression analysis, followed by response surface analysis. The primary polynomial regression aims to test the hypotheses of ascendant ridge, consistency, and asymmetry, further revealing the complex relationships between the variables.Results: Trust congruence fosters pro-social impression management and curtails self-oriented behaviors. Higher trust levels correlate positively with pro-social behaviors. Notably, trust incongruence has asymmetric effects: employees with high expected but low perceived trust resort to self-oriented strategies, while those with low expected but high perceived trust exhibit stronger pro-social tendencies.Discussion：These findings highlight the need to promote trust congruence in management. Addressing trust misalignment through tailored strategies, such as enhancing communication and support, can foster constructive behaviors. Future research should explore trust dynamics and moderating organizational factors like leadership and culture. This study advances understanding of workplace trust and offers practical insights for management.
Keywords: Expected Trust, Perceived trust, Pro-Social Impression Management, Pro-Self Impression Management, Cubic response surface analysis
Received: 12 Nov 2024; Accepted: 24 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang and Ma. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Xiaodong Ma, Central University of Finance and Economics, No. 39, Xueyuan South Road, Haidian District, Beijing, China
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