Trusting and feeling trusted are related but unique components of a trusting relationship. However, we understand relatively little about the effects of felt trust on work performance and organizational citizenship behavior. From a self‐evaluative perspective, this study argued that when employees perceive that their supervisors trust them, their organization‐based self‐esteem is enhanced, leading them to perform better in the workplace. We tested our hypotheses on a sample of 497 teachers using two trust measures, that is, reliance and disclosure, and found support for them on the basis of the reliance (but not the disclosure) measure. The effect of felt trust especially reliance on the employees' work performances were mediated by their organization‐based self‐esteem. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.