This study examines the dynamic process of trust-building in leadership roles, focusing on the impact of leaders’ helping behaviors on followers’ trust over time. We propose a theoretical model integrating signaling theories with a temporal evolution of trust perspective, suggesting that the influence of leaders’ helping behaviors on trust amplifies with their tenure. We distinguish between autonomy-oriented and dependency-oriented helping, theorizing that as a leader’s tenure increases, the positive impact of autonomy-oriented helping on trust becomes more pronounced, whereas the effect of dependency-oriented helping may diminish. To test these hypotheses, longitudinal, multisource data was collected from two large corporations in mainland China. Our findings offer valuable insights into the temporal dynamics of trust-building, challenging the static approach often adopted in leadership research.
