International Journal of
Information and Education Technology

Abstract

This study aims to provide further information on the topic of Malaysian workers trust towards their head of departments. A total of 185 workers (males = 81, females = 104) from four of the Malaysia’s government department in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah were selected as the respondents in this study. The respondents completed an open-ended questionnaire regarding what are the underlying reasons that the employees trust their head of department and how much they trust their head of departments. The results from the thematic analysis revealed that there are five main themes have been identified from the generated data for workers’ basis of trust development towards their head of department. Namely, 1) status privileges and role; 2) competency; 3) benevolence; 4) worker - leader relationship, and 5) head of department’s integrity. From the above identified themes, it was found that, status privileges and roles along with the head of department’s competency are among the two most important aspects in the development of trust in workers towards their head of department.