The Negative Side of Giving Employees the Trust They Want

Leadership experts often encourage managers to empower their subordinates by delegating important tasks, granting autonomy, and, above all, trusting their team. The logic seems intuitive: when people feel trusted, they perform better and become more engaged.

However, a new study published in the Journal of Business Ethics complicates this idea by showing that aligning trust with employees’ desires can inadvertently promote unethical loyalty in the absence of ethical guidance.

Trusting the Right Amount 

Drawing on social exchange theory and moral disengagement theory, the authors hypothesize that when supervisors provide employees with the level of trust they desire — especially at high levels — employees may feel compelled to reciprocate this trust, even by engaging in unethical acts. The alignment between desired and received trust, referred to as “trust congruence,” is expected to strengthen the social exchange relationship between supervisor and subordinate. 

Under conditions of weak ethical leadership, this strengthened exchange may encourage moral disengagement, causing employees to justify behavior such as lying or hiding mistakes for the benefit of their supervisor. The authors term such conduct unethical pro-supervisor behavior.

This perspective challenges the prevailing notion that the “right amount of trust” always results in positive outcomes. While previous research shows that perceived trust enhances performance and commitment, other studies on moral licensing suggest that feeling valued can sometimes prompt individuals to take ethical shortcuts. The authors therefore ask: 

Does feeling trusted encourage loyalty, even if it means sacrificing integrity?

Four Studies Across Three Countries

The researchers investigated whether “trust congruence” — the alignment between the trust employees desire from their supervisor and the trust they actually receive — could unintentionally encourage unethical pro-supervisor behavior.