Situational leadership styles and trust development in supervisory relationships

Abstract

Orientation: Trust is a critical element in supervisory relationships, influencing subordinates’ willingness to follow leadership directives. Leadership style shapes trust perceptions in these relationships.
Research purpose: This study examined the alignment between situational leadership (SL) styles or stages (directing, coaching, supporting, delegating) and four supervisory relationship trust (SURT) characteristics or stages (compliance, fairness, good faith, benevolence).
Motivation for the study: While research has explored leadership styles and trust, the relationship between SL and specific SURT facilitators remains underexplored, particularly in South African supervisory contexts.
Research approach/design and method: A quantitative, exploratory design was used. Convenience sampling yielded 26 SL workshop attendees who participated in structured interviews. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Spearman’s rank-order tests assessed differences and relationships.
Main findings: Statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) in trust perceptions across SL stages were found. Compliance and fairness (transactional trust) were generally higher in early stages (directing, coaching), while good faith and benevolence (relational trust) were more evident in later stages (supporting, delegating). Given the small sample (n = 26), these findings should be regarded as promising, but tentative.
Practical/managerial implications: Results suggest SURT may develop in four stages aligned with SL progression. Leaders could adapt their style to emphasise the trust-building behaviours most relevant to each stage.
Contribution/value-add: This study adds to leadership–trust literature by providing promising initial empirical evidence of a link between SL stages with trust-building behaviours.