This empirical study is based on the analysis of over hundred questionnaires completed by human resource managers from the leading companies in the Israeli industrial, service and trade sectors. One of the particularities of this study is that is focuses on the conditions that engender organizational trust - those that make managers more willing to accept the vulnerability inherent in certain managerial actions that are part of human resource management. The study evaluates the trust mechanism and the way NRM practices mediate its impact on improving organizational performance. Overall, the study reveals that HR managers are more likely to offer training and shape the internal promotion system when trust is high. It also shows that firms exhibited higher organizational performance when trust is high. The paper also presents some of the model's implications.