Abstract Based on the sample of 189 employees from seven companies in South China, this paper explores the relationship between employees’ perceived trust and compulsory organizational citizenship based on the research perspective of control-based incentives. The research found that perceived trust can predict the employee’s compulsory organizational citizenship behavior, which is disguised as a control tool. Perceived obligation is taken as the mediating variable, and employee’s perceived organizational self-esteem can significantly moderate the relationship between perceived trust and perceived obligation. Research show that distrust of trust is a neglected paradox in reality.
