A comparative study of the effects of Taiwan-United States employee categorization on supervisor trust

This study used a 2 × 2 × 2 within-subjects of scenario experiment design to examine the effects of 3 key employee categorization criteria - relationship (guanxi), loyalty and competence - on the trust attitudes of 217 Taiwan and 132 United States corporate managers. The results revealed that U.S. supervisors display cognition-based trust (reliability and competence) toward their subordinates, which is primarily based on each subordinate's level of competence, whereas Taiwan supervisors display affect-based trust (affectionate attachment) based on the closeness of their relationship with the subordinate. Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research are discussed.