The impact of trust on public relations practitioners’ job satisfaction

Abstract: In this study, we propose and conduct a moderated multiple mediation analysis to depict both direct and indirect effects of trust in organization on public relations practitioners’ job satisfaction. Using a national online survey of public relations practitioners in the U.S. (N = 838), our findings reveal significant results, suggesting that trust has a strong and significant direct effect on job satisfaction. More importantly, our findings identify that such strong trust-satisfaction relation is mediated simultaneously by practitioners’ job engagement and leadership performance as demonstrated by their communication leaders. Organizational culture and support further moderate the engagement- and leadership-mediated trust-satisfaction relations. All the indirect effects explained by the moderator and mediators address the importance of understanding the complicated institutional environment in trusting building and satisfaction enhancement among public relations practitioners. Implications for research and practice are discussed.