Digitalization?A Matter of Trust: A Double-Mediation Model Investigating Employee Trust in Management Regarding Digitalization

The purpose of this paper is to determine how employee trust in management regarding digitalization (TMD) is encouraged to successfully promote technological change linked to digitalization and implement digital technologies within organizations. TMD is considered a necessary precondition for employee cooperation regarding the successful implementation of digitalization within organizations. Derived from existing theoretical and empirical research on trust, a double-mediation model is developed. The proposed model investigates the direct relationships between strong digital vision (SDV), leader-member exchange (LMX), and perceptions of organizational politics (POP) on employee TMD. Further, the mediating roles of LMX and POP are investigated regarding the relationship between SDV and TMD. Based on data collected from 1,145 employees of an internationally operating energy supplier, significant positive relationships between SDV, LMX, POP, and employee TMD were found. Further, the results confirmed that LMX and POP sequentially double-mediated the relationship between SDV and TMD. Consequently, by developing a theoretical model for the specific context of digitalization, this study contributes to theory development concerning employee TMD. Furthermore, this study provides practical implications for management in terms of identifying institutional aspects within organizations that enhance TMD in the digital labor context.