What the research says

Does trust in leaders matter during change?

The short answer

Yes, in the studies we mapped. In interviews with 24 people in New Zealand, trust and distrust in change leaders came loaded with emotion, and perceived fairness built or eroded them. When middle managers saw their senior bosses as keeping their word, frontline staff viewed those middle managers more favorably. Trust and support helped explain the link between resistance and readiness for change. And in one radical change, managers turned against leaders as they reassessed whether those leaders were legitimate.

Based on 7 studies from the Atlas of the Middle: 1 rated high strength, 4 medium, 2 low. Designs: survey (3), qualitative case (2), qualitative interviews (1), mixed (1).

Trust is emotional, and fairness and legitimacy move it

Interviews about workplace change, and a long case of radical change.

Smollan (2013) · qualitative interviews · LowTrust in change managers: the role of affectInterviews with 24 people about workplace change found that trust and distrust in supervisors and senior change leaders came loaded with emotion, distrust most intensely, and that perceived fairness built or eroded that trust.Huy et al. (2014) · qualitative case · HighFrom Support to Mutiny: Shifting Legitimacy Judgments and Emotional Reactions Impacting the Implementation of Radical ChangeOver three years of a radical change, middle managers went from supporting their top leaders to mutiny as they reassessed whether those leaders were legitimate, and their emotional reactions fed rising resistance.

It passes down the line

How the middle sees the top is tied to how the front line sees the middle, and middle managers pick up on what their CEO values.

Simons et al. (2007) · survey · MediumRacial differences in sensitivity to behavioral integrity: Attitudinal consequences, in-group effects, and "trickle down" among Black and non-Black employees.Across 107 hotels, when middle managers saw their senior bosses as keeping their word, frontline staff in turn viewed those middle managers more favorably, an effect stronger among Black employees.Fu et al. (2010) · mixed · MediumPursuit of Whose Happiness? Executive Leaders' Transformational Behaviors and Personal ValuesIn Chinese firms, middle managers picked up on their CEO's personal values, and a CEO's inspiring behavior went with stronger commitment when the CEO cared about others and weaker commitment when the CEO was self-focused.

Trust, support and readiness

Surveys of middle managers link trust and support to readiness for change, and tie support from their own boss to trusting the organization.

Thakur & Srivastava (2018) · survey · LowFrom resistance to readiness: the role of mediating variablesIn a survey of 276 Indian middle managers, trust, felt organizational support and emotional attachment to the organization helped explain the link between resistance and readiness to change, narrowing the gap between the two.Zhang et al. (2008) · survey · MediumHow do I trust thee? The employee‐organization relationship, supervisory support, and middle manager trust in the organizationAmong 545 middle managers in China, support from their own boss was more strongly tied to trusting the organization than the employment deal was, strengthening trust's link to investment-style deals and weakening the negative link to purely transactional ones.

Borrowed trust

One merger used trusted insiders to win fast buy-in.

Hensmans (2015) · qualitative case · MediumThe Trojan horse mechanism and reciprocal sense-giving to urgent strategic changeIn a European merger, executives won fast buy-in by getting trusted old-guard insiders to vouch for the change, at the risk of resentment later.

What I take from it

I would treat every promise made during a change as a trust deposit or withdrawal, because the studies suggest the middle is keeping score and passing the result down.

This is my reading, Gabriel Lopez's, not a finding of the studies above.

Common questions

Does trust in senior leaders reach frontline staff?

Across 107 hotels, when middle managers saw their senior bosses as keeping their word, frontline staff in turn viewed those middle managers more favorably.

What builds or erodes trust during change?

In interviews with 24 people about workplace change, perceived fairness built or eroded trust in supervisors and senior change leaders, and distrust carried the most intense emotion.

Free guideAll 12 answers in one 15-page PDFWhat the research says about change in the middle, with how strong the evidence is.Get the guide

Every summary on this page was written by Unfrozen from the study's abstract or full text and checked twice by independent AI reviewers. Loop coding is exploratory and AI-assisted, pending human verification. Spot an error? Email info@unfreeze.us and it gets fixed.