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Linking secure attachment to commitment: trust in supervisors

Selin Metin Camgöz (Department of Business Administration, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey)
Pinar Bayhan Karapinar (Department of Business Administration, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey)

Leadership & Organization Development Journal

ISSN: 0143-7739

Article publication date: 3 May 2016

1323

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between a secure attachment style and affective commitment (AC) through the mediating roles of affective and cognitive trust in a direct supervisor.

Design/methodology/approach

The study was conducted using the questionnaire answers of 357 private sector employees in various occupations. The statistical analysis was based on structural equation modeling. A multiple mediation model enabled us to investigate the specific indirect effects of each mediator.

Findings

Results based on a model comparison showed that the employees’ affective trust in their supervisor fully mediated the relationship between a secure attachment style and AC. However, cognitive trust had no significant mediating effect on relationships between a secure attachment style and AC.

Practical implications

Trust in supervisors should be monitored and supported during developmental interventions. Understanding the power of affective and cognitive trust in predicting attitudes can help shape more effective interventions to influence positive work attitudes, including AC.

Originality/value

The study sheds new light on the literature by linking individual attachment to organizational attachment as the mediating role of two forms of trust in a supervisor.

Keywords

Citation

Metin Camgöz, S. and Bayhan Karapinar, P. (2016), "Linking secure attachment to commitment: trust in supervisors", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 37 No. 3, pp. 387-402. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-07-2014-0130

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2016, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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