Trust is a psychological state that exists when you agree to make yourself vulnerable to another person. Although you aren’t completely in control of the situation, you are willing to take a chance that the other person will come through for you. Trust is a primary attribute associated with leadership; breaking it can have serious adverse effects on a group’s performance. Followers who trust a leader are confident that their rights and interests will not be abused. People are unlikely to look up to or follow someone they perceive as dishonest or likely to take advantage of them.

In contemporary organizations, employment relationships are based more than ever before on trust. Only a trusted leader will be able to encourage employees to reach beyond themselves to a transformational goal. Trust propensity refers to how likely a particular employee is to trust a leader. Trust propensity is closely linked to the personality trait of agreeableness, and people with lower self-esteem are less likely to trust others.

In individualistic societies, we might expect that paternalistic leadership will rankle many employees who prefer not to see themselves as part of a hierarchical family work group. Employees in individualist cultures may build trust along dimensions of leadership support and consistency.