Moderator or Mediator? Examining the Role of Trust in the Transformational Leadership Paradigm

A field study of 209 leader-follower dyads was conducted to examine the role of trust within the transformational leadership paradigm. Specifically, the goal was to answer the question, "Is trust simply an outcome of transformational leadership or does it serve a more complex role as a moderator or a mediator?" Results from the analysis using a bootstrapping technique with structural equation modeling revealed no support for the role of trust as a moderator of the relationship between transformational leadership and a variety of follower outcomes. However, trust fully mediated the relationships between transformational leadership behavior and organizational citizenship behavior, performance, and affective commitment.