Abstract
Employees respond differently to felt trust from their supervisor. We propose and test an organization‐based self‐esteem ( OBSE )‐ contingent work engagement model of felt trust that predicts task performance and work‐to‐home conflict. We argue that employees use OBSE as a lens for interpreting felt trust, which has implications for their work engagement and subsequent task performance and work‐to‐home conflict. In Study 1 (a multi‐wave survey in the USA), we found that employees who had higher (lower) OBSE responded more positively (negatively) to felt trust with higher (lower) work engagement. In Study 2 (a cross‐lagged survey in China), we replicated the findings of Study 1 and further showed that felt trust had a positive (negative) relationship with task performance and a negative (positive) relationship with work‐to‐home conflict via work engagement among higher‐ (lower‐) OBSE employees. Our model shifts the thinking on felt trust and has implications for felt trust theory and managerial practice.