Examining the Relationships Among Coaching, Trustworthiness, and Role Behaviors: A Social Exchange Perspective

There is little evidence regarding what makes managerial coaching effective. To explore this topic more deeply, we looked at coaching relationship and performance behavior. We examined the associations between managerial coaching and employee in-role performance, organizational citizenship behavior-individual (OCBI), and organizational citizenship behavior-organization (OCBO), with the mediating effect of manager's trustworthiness as perceived by employees. Using 280 dyad surveys, we found that managerial coaching had a direct impact on employee performance behavior of OCBI and OCBO as well as employee perception of manager's trustworthiness. Bootstrapping analytic findings revealed that managerial coaching also indirectly influenced employee in-role performance, OCBI, and OCBO through employee perception of manager's trustworthiness. The current study findings offer an initial endorsement for coaching effectiveness in this largely uncharted topic area and further provide empirical support to the theoretical underpinnings of managerial coaching based on social exchange theory. Limitations are discussed and directions for future studies are suggested.