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Abstract
Trust is a fundamental dynamic between supervisors and employees. Research on trust has predominantly focused on supervisor characteristics that engender employees’ trust without considering the potential impact of employees’ experiences with past supervisors on their current perceptions and attitudes. To explore this phenomenon, I develop a new construct called supervisory baggage, defined as the psychological burdens that employees carry with them from prior negative supervisory experiences that can impede or encumber current reactions. Drawing on cognitive experiential theory, I develop and test a theory that explains how supervisory baggage influences employees’ trust in their current supervisor through negative vibes. Across two studies— an experimental-causal-chain study and a field study— I show that supervisory baggage impacts employee trust and perceptions of trustworthiness, and ultimately citizenship behavior, though negative vibes. I discuss the implications of supervisory baggage for the trust literature and other literatures in the leadership domain, and describe the potential for other forms of baggage in organizational life.