Breaking Down Trust: A Qualitative Study On Conflict and Trust Perceptions At Multiple Level of Leadership

The current study utilizes an inductive, qualitative approach to examine effects of trust and conflict across two distinct levels of leadership – top management teams (TMT) versus immediate supervisors. Using COVID-19 as a context that triggered uncertainty, rapid change, and re-evaluation of leadership, we collected data from first responders (i.e., firefighters) across the course of the pandemic. Preliminary analysis shows that the uncertainty caused by the pandemic led to a discrepancy in leadership focus; employees focused almost exclusively on TMT, rather than immediate supervisor, behaviors. Evaluations of leaders were affected primarily by justice violations which were overlaid with themes of uncertainty, identification, health (both physical and mental), and withdrawal. Our results are expected to contribute to the literature by providing a model of trust and leadership that considers both multi-level issues as well as temporal dynamics of justice perceptions.