Mediator Role of Leader-Member Exchange in the Effect of Positive Voice Behavior on Organizational Trust in Healthcare Professionals

Abstract

Organizations today are beginning to realize the importance of listening to employees, caring for them, rewarding them, establishing open communication and applying differentiated management styles. It is seen that the employees supported in this way provide positive added value to the organizations they are in. In addition, these values enable employees to have more confidence in their organizations and leaders. In this direction, the desire to make a sound is also increasing. The period of supporting the members of the organization can be done through the leaders. The level of leader-member interaction is very effective on these values. The aim of this study is to examine the mediating role of leader-member exchange (LMX) in the effect of positive vocal behavior (PVB) on organizational trust (OT) for 271 health personnel working in the Ataşehir branch of the chain hospital serving in Istanbul. As a result of the regression analysis, PVB variable significantly affects the OT variable positively (β=0.683, p<0.01). LMX variable has a significant positive correlation on OT (β=0.911,p<0.01). PVB variable was positively and significantly correlated with LMX variable (β=0.708,p<0.01). Finally, LMX and PVB variables were found to be significantly associated with the OT variable together. Since the coefficient value of the PVB variable decreased but was significant (β=0.614), the LMX variable plays an effective role as a “partial mediator”. Thus, hypotheses H1, H2, H3, and H4 were confirmed.