Trust and communication in the context of leaders and employees

Abstract

The article deals with the topic of communication and trust in leadership which affect the success of cooperation and organizational performance. The paper summarizes the theoretical basis of trust and communication and examines what leaders must do to develop them and achieve the expected results and outcomes. The study focuses on Zenger and Folkman’s model related to the two aspects of leaders’ qualities: warmth and professional competence. The empirical analysis is conducted on a dataset obtained from a Hungarian nationwide omnibus study where 999 responses were collected. The methodology is based on the application of Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Binary Logistic Regression. The research confirmed that trust and communication are significant factors of leadership success, whereas warmth is measured to have twice as much importance as professional competence in building the former two. This is the first study where the Zenger and Folkman’s model is controlled in a Central and Eastern European country in the context of leaders and employees.