“The relationship between employee well-being and organizational trust in the context of sustainable human resource management”

As the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to grow, new challenges in the organizational and business environment emerge, causing the human resource management (HRM) to develop a flexible yet strategic and sustainable response in the face of instability and uncertainty. HRM practices that focus on employees’ emotional, psychological, and cognitive states are becoming crucial. The aim of this paper is to disclose the relationship between employee well-being and organizational trust in the context of sustainable HRM. The literature analysis revealed that sustainable HRM practices focused on meeting the needs of employees are particularly significant as they positively influence employee well-being. Furthermore, ensuring employee well- being based on sustainable HRM principles leads to increased organizational trust. The results of the analysis proved direct and indirect relationships between employee well-being and organizational trust; however, further research is needed to distinguish the relationship between sustainable human resource management practices and em- ployee well-being, with a mediating role and moderating role of organizational trust.


INTRODUCTION
Changing conditions in organizations' environment related to the economic and social challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have stimulated changes in the attitude of organizations towards human resources. Presently, HR is perceived as one of the most significant assets defining the success of an organization (Tamasevicius et al., 2020;Laužikas, & Miliūtė, 2020;Prasetyo, & Kistanti, 2020). Therefore, new challenges for HRM arise, demanding it to be strategic, sustainable, and responsive in the face of unstable organizational and business environments ( Tolstyakova, & Batyrova, 2020). Therefore, in adapting to contemporary issues, organizations must adhere to the new requirements for the development of sustainability and its integrative parts: employee well-being and organizational trust.
Widely discussed sustainable HRM focuses on the satisfaction of employees' needs and significantly contributes to the positive changes in employee well-being. It is influenced by organizational trust, which is viable for smooth organizational performance, especially nowadays amid the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.
As various studies suggest, ensuring employee well-being leads to higher satisfaction with job and personal life; more persistent goal achievement; taking opportunities for continuous improvement and ability to cope with complex situations; maintaining warm, trust-based relationships with other people; and contributing to the effective functioning of the organization in both stable and emergency conditions (Khoreva & Wechtler, 2018;Guest, 2017;Cooper et al., 2019).
However, it should be noted that in establishing sustainable HRM practices in an organization, organizational trust plays a critical role. Various authors state that organizational trust provides positive consequences to an organization and its employees: employee security, commitment, identification with the organization, and others.
In the context of this paper, the relevance of organizational trust and its relationships with employee well-being contribute to the effective functioning of an organization, creating a positive, trust-based organizational climate and forming sustainable attitudes towards an organization as caring for employees. When an organization recognizes the links between well-being-oriented HRM practices and respect for employees and their talents, encouragement to grow, and development of trust, its employees are more likely to use their potential effectively (Yidong & Xinxin, 2013).
The aim of this paper is to disclose the relationship between employee well-being and organizational trust in the context of sustainable HRM.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Scientific discussions regarding employee well-being have begun somewhat long ago when the World Health Organization has defined health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being rather than merely the absence of disease or disability (World Health Organization, 2010). As the concept of health crossed the threshold of a pathogenic approach and established a salutogenic orientation, the need for a well-being paradigm arose. It led to a significant and unquenchable interest in this phenomenon among researchers and practitioners.
The first author of the well-being concept, the American therapist Dunn (1959), based it on a positive approach to health as defined by the WHO (2010), emphasized the physical and spiritual dimensions of well-being, and associated well-being with maximizing an individual's potential. Later, this idea was disclosed by proponents of the eudemonic concept of well-being who disclosed well-being through meaningfulness and self-realization and defined it as a degree of absolute functioning of an individual (Zheng et al., 2015;Guest, 2017).
Eudemonic approach associates well-being (the narrow approach to well-being) with striving to understand a possessed set of psychological characteristics indicative of mental health (Waterman et al., 2010). Widely recognized concepts, such as "personal growth" (Compton et al., 1996), "personal expressiveness" (Waterman et al., 2010), "self-actualization" (Ryan & Deci, 2001), psychological well-being (Ryff, 1989), and others are used as synonymous to the eudemonic approach to well-being.
Based on the eudemonic approach, Ryff (1989) has enriched the well-being concept by forming a six-dimensional psychological well-being model that includes six positive psychological functioning areas: self-acceptance (positive attitudes towards oneself and one's life), positive relations with others (maintaining warm relationships), autonomy (ability to maintain one's beliefs), environmental mastery (ability to cope with life demands), the purpose in life (possessing purposes), and personal growth (possessing a feeling of self-realization).
Another widely recognized approach to well-being is the hedonic approach (broad approach). Contemporary psychology considers the hedonic approach to well-being and subjective well-being as synonyms. The hedonic approach associates well-being with happiness and defines well-being as the pursuit of a pleasant experience and the avoidance of pain. It is the satisfaction or happiness arising from optimal functioning (Guest, 2017; Viot & Benraiss-Noailles, 2019). Diener et al. (1999) disclosed subjective well-being as a three-component model characterized by the experience of positive and negative emotional encounters and the evaluation of satisfaction with life (Guest, 2017). Negative emotions are usually associated with the avoidance of punishment (negative impact), while positive -with a good feeling (positive impact). Furthermore, empirical studies have shown the advantages of good feeling in increasing employee productivity, and reducing intention to leave the company (Viot & Benraiss-Noailles, 2019; Bernardi, 2019).
Both above-mentioned approaches to well-being (subjective or hedonic; and psychological or eudemonic) lay the basis for the employee well-being model (Zheng et al., 2015;Zhang et al., 2020). However, different researchers emphasize different aspects of it. Some authors divide employee well-being into psychological, physical, and social (Guest, Table 1 portrays the factors ensuring employee well-being at different levels. During the COVID-19 pandemic, an extensive focus has been put on one of the context factors: social distance (Tuzovic & Kabadayi, 2020). It should be emphasized that social distance affects the well-being of both employees who cannot maintain it due to their work specifics, and employees who maintain social distance (working from home). Tuzovic and Kabadayi (2020) state: "On one hand, frontline employees who provide "essential" services (health care, grocery stores, pharmacies, long-term care homes, etc.) face increased health risks in terms of infection, stress and mental illness, while, on the other, the sudden shift to work from home and self-isolation is causing unanticipated mental health consequences, such as anxiety, loneliness, and depression, which lead to an increase in substance abuse and even suicide" ( (Guest, 2017). The aforementioned results in positive performance at individual and organizational levels. Therefore, the sustainable approach to the HRM provides mutual benefits to an employee and organization and allows the extensive application of such practices in the activities of organizations.
In the successful application of sustainable HRM practices, extensive attention is put on the trust in an organization, its leaders, and employees. According to researchers, trust significantly influences communication and organizational success ( . In social exchange theory, sociologists conceptualize trust as a part of relationships between individuals or institutions (Knapp et al., 2020). In finances, agency theory states that trust reduces complexity and insecurity, preventing opportunistic behavior (Styhre, 2016). The resource-based approach emphasizes that reliable human resources ensure a competitive advantage (Hoskisson et al., 2018). However, a significant proportion of scientific literature refers to a generalized definition of trust proposed by Mayer et al. (1995) and Rousseau et al. (1998), which conceptualizes trust as an individual's expectations of others in the hope that they will behave honestly and fairly. Trust emerges from two principal factors: risk and interdependence (Rousseau et al., 1998). Here, the risk is conceptualized as the probability of loss perceived by the trusting party. Interdependence anticipates that the interests of one party cannot be satisfied without the other party. Colquitt Ng (2015), trust in an organization also depends on employees' feelings, worldviews, values, and their evaluation. Behind the emotional components lies a rational reconsideration of information, whether the organization is trustworthy, honest. The goal of any individual is foremost to evaluate the risk whether an organization is worth trust before attaching to it and trusting it (Mehta et al., 2020). Moreover, an employee's trust in an organization majorly depends on the organizational competencies revealed in the long term (Pirson & Malhotra, 2011) (see Figure 1).

GENERALIZATION OF THE MAIN STATEMENTS
Based on research on organizational trust, it can be argued that trust is a factor that provides positive outcomes for an organization: employee security, loyalty, commitment, identification with the organization, and others. Therefore, trust in an organization is particularly significant to every organization (Lambert et al., 2020), since it allows one to create relationships between employees, ensure information transfer between different departments, and promotes commitment to follow the organization's positive values and strategy. Employee trust in management and colleagues strengthens the team spirit and team goal achievement (Den Hartog et al., 2002). It should be noted that trust in an organization allows employees to give their work meaning, and, at the same time, influences employee well-being (Alfes et al., 2012).
The literature analysis revealed that recently, studies on employee well-being and organizational trust, as well as on the relationships between these concepts, focused on two areas: 1) the search for direct relationships between well-being and organizational trust in the context of psychological contract; 2) the search for indirect relationships between well-being and organizational trust in the context of social exchange and organizational support theories (see Table 2).  Researchers who analyzed the indirect relationship between organizational trust and well-being examined the links between leadership style, leader's feedback to followers, perceived HRM practices, work autonomy, organizational support, social responsibility, and well-being, mediated by organizational trust.
Studies have found a mediating role of trust in manager in the relationship between manager's transformational leadership and job satisfaction (Braun et al., 2013), virtuous leadership, job satisfaction, and engagement (Hendriks et al., 2020), while trust in a team: in the relationships between team's attitudes towards manager's transformational leadership and job satisfaction (Braun et al., 2013). It has been found that organizational trust had a mediating effect on the relationships between ethical leadership and employee engage-ment . The aforementioned results enriched previous conclusions on the significance of trust at the individual, team (Braun et al., 2013), and organizational levels (Vanhala & Ritala, 2016). Plausibly, transformational and ethical leadership help team members perceive their trustworthiness, while team members develop a team trust perception. Furthermore, such leaders' actions as sharing information, feedback, and developing a mutual trust with employees, create positive emotions and strengthen both managers' and employees' well-being (Salmi et al., 2020).
In line with the social exchange theory, in return for the trust, employees who trust in their managers and team members, work longer and harder to accomplish goals and not disappoint managers, use their free time to help colleagues, and share information useful in performing tasks. Moreover, when employees feel supported and valued by managers, they exhibit higher loyalty to the organization, maintain symmetry in the employee-employer psychological contract (Vanhala & Ritala, 2016).
Researchers who analyzed the relationships between perceived HRM practices and well-being (Alfes et al., 2012), and the relationships between organizational policy and well-being (Ullah et al., 2019), concluded that in organizations where HRM practices were focused on high performance, employee well-being was evaluated as low. However, after including moderating variables: trust in employers (Alfes et al., 2012), and mediating variable -interpersonal trust (Ullah et al., 2019), the positive impact of trust in managers and trust in employer on employees' well-being was found. The aforementioned insights are particularly valuable to practitioners responsible for high organizational performance and long-term organizational functioning. In organizations where employees trust in their managers, employee well-being scores are higher in comparison to employees who do not trust in their managers and whose organizations apply performance-oriented HRM practices. It should be noted that when an employee does not trust their manager, HRM practices are less effective in ensuring employee well-being and performance. One of the HRM practices ensuring well-being and performance is job autonomy, which provides individual job meaningfulness: employees are more likely to seek meaningful job; therefore, identifying themselves with the job and perceiving contribution to the achievement of the organization's goals (Anand et al., 2012;Heyns, & Rothmann, 2018).
Studies analyzing the relationships between perceived organizational support and well-being (Tsai, 2013;Paillé et al., 2010) and the relationship between corporate social responsibility and well-being (Yu & Choi, 2014) have proved that employees who trust in an organization, its support, and believe in the organization's values, exhibit higher levels of security and happiness, which increases employee well-being. Furthermore, it is proved that the high level of corporate social responsibility, including its tools aiming at employees well-being, positively influences the performance of organizations (Myšková & Hájek, 2019; Gallardo-Vázquez & Lizcano-Álvarez, 2020) and attractiveness of employer's brand (Bite & Konczos-Szombathelyi, 2020). Support of employees usually includes various aspects. According to Bak (2020), feedback from a manager can be perceived as organizational support influencing well-being. Furthermore, support can be perceived as access to necessary resources (i.e., technologies, reliable internet connection, and others) in remote work. In the social context, support is related to the roles of a manager, family, friends, and colleagues (Tuzovic & Kabadayi, 2020). Empathy and shared responsibility between colleagues or family members, as forms of social support, help employees overcome stress caused by social distancing (Abel & McQueen, 2020). Furthermore, social support can be related to providing financial resources to employees who lose jobs, and therefore offering relief with regard to financial well-being, at least in the short term, which becomes especially relevant during the pandemic. Although the aforementioned support is somewhat significant for employee well-being, studies reveal that it positively influences happiness, and as a result, helps improving physical health and wellness (Tuzovic & Kabadayi, 2020).

DISCUSSION
The . For instance, a manager seeking employees' trust develops empathetic behavior, which positively influences employees' performance and attitudes towards an organization. It should be emphasized that ambiguity often arises when trust in a manager is equated with trust in an organization. As a manager is a member of an organization, the manager's behavior reflects an organization. However, it does not reflect the concept of impersonal trust. Therefore, in the analysis of the influence of management style on employee well-being, trust in a manager shall act as an intermediate variable.
Scientific papers continue ongoing discussions in the context of the organizational support theory, emphasizing that employees' perceptions of organizational support and justice positively influence trust in the organization. Employees generally tend to personalize an organization and develop general beliefs on the extent to which an organization values their contribution and supports their well-being, based on HRM practices used (Eisenberger et al., 2001).
However, it should be noted that only one type of organizational trust is usually under investigation, while employee well-being is identified to the outcomes of organizational performance without considering subjective and psychological aspects of employees. Furthermore, a significant part of studies did not reveal clear relationships between well-being in an organization and its HRM practices. A somewhat small part of studies analyzed more than one sustainable well-being-focused practice: organizational support, providing information and feedback, and job autonomy. However, as sustainable HR practices help improve employees' skills, ensure dedication to the organization, and support goal achievement, mutual benefits are evident: employees' well-being, and the organization's high performance ( Organizational trust or both types of trust often act as mediators between HRM practices and well-being-related consequences. The findings are similar in organizations investing in social responsibility-focused HRM practices and organizations investing in perceived organizational support; therefore, it can be assumed that sustainable HRM practices, fulfilling the condition of organizational trust, positively influence employee well-being. The phenomenon of trust is essential for both organizations and employees, enabling the parties to be exposed to certain risks anticipating positive consequences. Hence, HR managers shall take a proactive role in promoting the development of HRM practices, organizational support, and social responsibility.
Based on the analysis of prior studies, it can be stated that the scientific literature lacks the comprehensive approach to the influence of organizational trust on employee well-being. This may be influenced by the fact that scholars have only recently begun to empirically investigate trust in co-workers as the aspect of interpersonal trust. The empirical analysis of three elements of organization trust shall provide an extensive understanding of the influence of or-ganizational trust on employee well-being and employees in general.
It should be noted that the existing empirical evidence is somewhat inconsistent. The existence of different types of trust raises the question of whether an interpersonal or impersonal trust has a more substantial influence on employee well-being. Some scholars state that ensuring trust in managers is essential for employees' feeling good, while others focus on the conclusion that trust in an organization is the most significant aspect of organizational trust. However, neither of the statements has received proper empirical testing. The scientific literature analysis revealed several studies analyzing organizational trust from interpersonal and impersonal trust perspectives to achieve the comprehensive effect (Tsai, 2013;Jovanović, 2016;Haynes et al., 2020). Although the scientific literature includes statements that types of trust are interchangeable, it is suggested that all types of organizational trust are significant in the achievement of the maximum positive impact on employee well-being. The above is evident from the analysis of the influence of different types of organizational trust, which showed that the strongest impact is achieved when comprehensive organizational trust is ensured.
The studies analyzed in this paper prove that trust is essential at the individual, team, and organizational levels. Moreover, the literature analysis has proven that organizational trust has a positive influence at all levels in the achievement of employee well-being and related consequences, such as trust in job, organizational commitment, citizenship and/or innovative behavior. It must be emphasized that the topic received fewer empirical studies at the team level; hence, it is proposed to focus future studies on exploring the relationships between organizational trust and employee well-being at the team level, considering that teams often have a cross-disciplinary nature and consist of representatives of various professions united to achieve a common goal. Furthermore, globalization processes determine the increasing cross-cultural nature of teams; hence, cross-cultural competencies become essential in ensuring smooth socialization processes in an organization. Moreover, this pa-per emphasizes the conditions of prior studies: the influence of Western and Eastern cultures on the analyzed phenomena differs significantly. Therefore, this study suggests that future studies exploring in-depth relationships between organizational trust and employee well-being in the context of sustainable HRM shall be compared among different cultures. Besides, the differences among industry sectors are purposeful to explore. Examining the aforementioned conditions is especially relevant for practitioners interested in ensuring organizational trust and employee well-being in a particular organization.
Future studies shall pay attention to identifying the relationships between sustainable human resource practices, well-being, and organizational trust, focusing on the mediating role of the latter and disclosing trust with colleagues as a somewhat less examined type of trust. Moderator analysis is suggested to determine the strength of the influence of organizational trust or its elements on the aforementioned relationships. Such studies allow HRM practitioners and managers to deepen the understanding of an organization's employees and meet their needs in the achievement of high performance.

CONCLUSION
This paper contributes to expanding knowledge of the links between sustainable HRM practices, employee well-being, organizational trust, engagement, and job satisfaction at the individual, team and organization level. The benefits of sustainable human resource management to organizations are evident as it focuses on essential aspects of the successful functioning of an organization: economic effectiveness, social responsibility, and environmental protection. The literature analysis revealed that sustainable HRM practices that are focused on meeting employees' needs are particularly significant as they positively influence employee well-being. It must be emphasized that ensuring employees' well-being based on sustainable HRM principles stimulates critical thinking, demonstrates positive social behavior, leads to good feelings and effective performance of employees, and increases organizational trust as a vital aspect of smooth organizational performance. Analysis of scientific literature confirmed the direct and indirect relationship between employee well-being and organizational trust; however, such relationships are evident only between particular elements. Consequently, research is needed to distinguish the relationships between sustainable human resource management practices and employee well-being, with the mediating moderating roles of organizational trust, which consists of trust in co-workers, trust in managers and trust in the organization.