Unleashing Employee-Employer Trust: The Uncharted Influence of Responsible Leadership in Technology-Permeated Workplaces

Despite significant interest in employee-employer trust, our current understanding of this phenomenon remains limited. Therefore, this study examines variations of employees' perceptions of their employer's trustworthiness within technology-permeated workplaces. We conducted semi-structured interviews with employees (n=15) from two trust cases (calculative vs. identity-based) in technology-permeated workplaces and identified leadership responsibility, employer communication, and organizational culture as critical factors shaping the trust relationships. Our findings reveal that leaders in the identity trust case communicate employers' values and purpose during technology deployment more effectively compared to the calculative trust case. Additionally, the responsibility orientation of leaders emerged as a pivotal factor influencing the quality of employee trust. Our data suggests that a stakeholder-oriented approach to responsibility strengthens trust in technology-permeated workplaces, while prioritizing an instrumental responsibility orientation undermines it. We contribute to trust and responsible leadership theory by providing valuable guidance for cultivating employee trust in technology-permeated workplaces.