The Relationship between Interpersonal Trust, Employee Satisfaction, and Employee Loyalty

Employee satisfaction is considered to be one of the most important drivers of quality, customer satisfaction and productivity. In this study we investigate an important driver of employee satisfaction. We argue that interpersonal trust (trust in management and trust in peers) strongly influences employee satisfaction and, as a consequence, employee loyalty. To test the relationships between these constructs we measured trust in management and trust in peers, satisfaction and loyalty of employees of an Austrian company in the energy sector (N = 131). The results of the statistical analysis using structural equation modeling with Partial Least Squares (PLS) confirm a strong link between trust, employee satisfaction and employee loyalty.