Copyright © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company New Horizons in Adult Education & Human Resource Development 26 (3), 3-19 Trust in leader and its effect on job satisfaction and intent to leave in a healthcare setting David Gibson 1 Joseph Petrosko 2 1 Edgewood College, 2 University of Louisville Corresponding Author: David Gibson, Edgewood College, MSOD, 1255 Deming Way, Madison, Wisconsin, 53717, USA E-mail: dgibson@edgewood.edu “The new leader generates and sustains trust.” -Warren Bennis The above quote frames the purpose of this research, which is the examination of trust in leader and its effect on job satisfaction and the intent to leave among members of the nursing profession. While Bennis wrote these words in 1999, the new leader and “not-so-new” leader may still find the quote worthwhile. According to Hurley (2006), roughly half of all managers do not trust their leaders. If this assertion is accurate then trust in one’s leader may prove to be an important ingredient for Human Resource Development (HRD) broadly and job satisfaction and turn- over in particular. One industry that has been affected over the past few decades by turnover is the healthcare industry and specifically the nursing profession (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2006). However the economic downturn of 2008 seems to have Abstract This article examines trust in leader and its effect on job satisfaction and intent to leave among 294 nurses working in hospitals within two healthcare organizations. Nurses were asked to assess the level of trust in his/her own nurse manager as well as his/her own level of job satisfaction and intent to leave. Results suggest that trust in leader has a direct effect on job satisfaction. Interestingly results also suggest that trust in leader has a direct effect on intent to leave independent of job satisfaction. The findings of this research indicate that trust in leader is a more important variable of study than what may have been previously thought, especially in the job satisfaction and turnover litera- ture. Keywords Job satisfaction, intent to leave, leadership, turnover