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Purpose This paper aims to provide more knowledge on antecedent conditions of organizational capacity for change by examining the mediating role of employee trust in relationship between transformational leadership (TL) and two components of organizational change capacity (OCC) (innovative culture and capable champions) in Chinese firms. Design/methodology/approach Survey data were collected from 269 participants at 65 Chinese firms. Structural equation modeling was used to test hypotheses in the proposed research model. Findings The research findings indicate that within the Chinese context, TL and two dimensions of employee trust in leadership (cognition-based trust and affect-based trust) are positively related to innovative culture and capable champions. Moreover, the two dimensions of employee trust act as the mediating roles between TL and components of OCC. Research/limitations implications The results and benchmarks in this paper are appropriate for a particular context of Chinese firms. Future research should examine other contexts to provide a clearer picture of the relationship between the constructs. Practical implications The study highlights the importance of practicing TL style to build employee trust in leadership aimed at fostering innovative culture and capable champions. Originality/value The paper has provided theoretical and managerial initiatives in the field of organizational behavior and change management that can clarify the relationship between TL, employee trust and OCC. These initiatives might help firms to identify a right pathway for promoting OCC and adapting more quickly and effectively to the change of business environment.
Lei et al. (Wed,) studied this question.