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The very nature of perceived injustice cuts to the heart of employees' cognition, attitudes and behaviours in the workplace. Yet, researchers and practitioners are woefully uninformed about what drives the subjectivity of unfairness perceptions. Using an integration of fairness heuristic and uncertainty management theories as a theoretical foundation to drive our hypothesis development, we conducted a multi-study investigation to examine individual-level correlates of unfairness expectations and perceptions in the context of newcomer organisational entry. Across two studies, we found support for the positive association between prior unfairness experiences (i.e. global unfairness heuristic) and expectations of unfairness (i.e. anticipatory injustice) at work. As an extension, Study 2 examined and found support for the interactive effect of global unfairness heuristics and competency-related beliefs (i.e. self-efficacy) on the formation of anticipatory injustice. Furthermore, Study 2 documented both direct and indirect associations between employees' global unfairness heuristic, anticipatory injustice, perceived injustice, job satisfaction and counterproductive work (CWB) behaviours. Overall, our work sheds light on the importance of perceiver-specific factors for better informing the complex, idiosyncratic nature of perceived work unfairness. We discuss theoretical contributions, future research directions and practical implications.

Despite the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States (U.S.) and an increasing number of out gay and lesbian business leaders, we have little knowledge of the role played by leaders’ same-sex sexual orientation in the leadership process. To fill this important research void, we drew from a recent theoretical model on leaders’ sexual orientation and conducted four experimental studies designed to test and retest whether leaders’ same-sex sexual orientation affects followers’ leadership perceptions and conformity to influence attempts, and how the intersectionality of leaders’ same-sex sexual orientation with leaders’ gender orientation and follower characteristics may modify the influences of leaders’ same-sex sexual orientation on the follower outcomes. Based on over 2,100 working adults in the U.S., the results of the four studies, where leaders were depicted as charismatic, indicate that leaders’ same-sex sexual orientation could have negative impacts on the follower outcomes. However, same-sex sexual orientation leaders did not suffer double stigma penalization by having additional marginalized identities (e.g., also being women). Female followers were more supportive of same-sex sexual orientation leaders than male followers. Our research advances knowledge of and responds to calls for more research attention to leader sexual orientation in the leadership process. Research and practical implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Impression management (IM)—the strategies through which employees create, maintain, or alter a desired image towards others—is a ubiquitous part of organizational life. To date, scholars studying this interpersonal phenomenon have largely focused on Jones and Pittman's (1982) taxonomy of IM strategies, examining consequences associated with the tactics of ingratiation, self-promotion, exemplification, supplication, and intimidation on others’ reactions to, and perceptions of, the actor. Thus, scholarly understanding surrounding the implications of IM for employees’ own well-being is nascent. We integrate ideas from the emotional labor and IM literatures to develop and test theory that explains the impact of IM strategies on the actors themselves. Across three complementary studies spanning 2337 full-time employees, we use latent profile analysis to investigate how the conjoint use of multiple IM tactics—each of which is associated with a distinct, and sometimes conflicting, image—yields unique consequences for employees’ feelings of inauthenticity at work. In addition, we also explore how profiles of IM tactics differentially relate to theoretically relevant work outcomes, namely coworker ratings of employee performance, work withdrawal, absenteeism, and perceived sincerity. Taken together, our work sheds light on the prevalence and impact of employees combining IM tactics during work interactions.

Many organizational representatives review social media (SM) information (e.g., Facebook, Twitter) when recruiting and assessing job applicants. Despite this, very little empirical data exist concerning the SM information available to organizations or whether assessments of such information are a valid predictor of work outcomes. This multistudy investigation examines several critical issues in this emerging area. In Study 1, we conducted a content analysis of job seekers' Facebook sites (n = 266) and found that these sites often provide demographic variables that U.S. employment laws typically prohibit organizations from using when making personnel decisions (e.g., age, ethnicity, and religion), as well as other personal information that is not work-related (e.g., sexual orientation, marital status). In Study 2 (n = 140), we examined whether job seekers' SM information is related to recruiter evaluations. Results revealed that various types of SM information correlated with recruiter judgments of hireability, including demographic variables (e.g., gender, marital status), variables organizations routinely assess (e.g., education, training, and skills), and variables that may be a concern to organizations (e.g., profanity, sexual behavior). In Study 3 (n = 81), we examined whether structuring SM assessments (e.g., via rater training) affects criterion-related validity. Results showed that structuring SM assessments did not appear to improve the prediction of future job performance or withdrawal intentions. Overall, the present findings suggest that organizations should be cautious about assessing SM information during the staffing process. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

In this article, we examine the effects of paternalism on experienced incivility across two studies. Study 1 examines the paternalism—experienced incivility relationship in a sample of health care employees, and Study 2 examines a moderated–mediated relationship, with incivility climate as the moderator of the paternalism—experienced incivility relationship, and counterproductive work behavior as the outcome. Results from these studies suggest that paternalism has a significant positive direct effect on incivility, and an indirect effect on counterproductive work behavior through experienced incivility. Moreover, our results suggest that the relationship between paternalism and experienced incivility is moderated by incivility climate, such that the effect of paternalism on experienced incivility is stronger at higher levels of incivility climate tolerance and lower levels of incivility climate policy.

PurposeThis research examines how perceived supervisor political support (SPS) moderates the relationship between perceived supervisor narcissistic rage (SNR) and relevant employee work outcomes.Design/methodology/approachAcross three studies (Study 1: 604 student-recruited working adults; Study 2: 156 practicing lawyers: Study 3: 161 municipality employees), employees provided ratings for SPS, SNR and ratings of their job satisfaction, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), depressed work mood and work neglect.FindingsResults supported the authors’ argument that SPS moderates the relationship between SNR and work outcomes. Specifically, SNR was associated with unfavorable outcomes only when SPS was low. When SPS was high, SNR had little effect on job satisfaction, OCBs, depressed mood and neglect.Research limitations/implicationsResults affirm that supervisor characteristics considered toxic do not always provoke adverse reactions when considering other leader features simultaneously.Practical implicationsSupervisors capable of offering political support can positively influence subordinate attitudes, behaviors and well-being even when other aspects of their personality potentially initiate antagonism.Originality/valueThis study is the first to examine SNR features and informal support activities concurrently.

Despite its widespread media acclaim and recognition as a strategic imperative, the role of grit in organizational research remains unclear. This ambiguity resulted from inconsistent empirical findings, thus triggering a pessimistic outlook for the construct across disciplines. To address these issues, we suggest that such confusion and lack of construct and predictive validity stem from not only methodological issues but also a lack of theoretical sophistication. In this article, we address methodological issues, focusing mainly on construct and criterion-related validity, by showing how traditional definitional components of grit are absent in existing measures. Next, we address theoretical issues impeding progress by developing a new work motivation conceptualization of the construct. To do so, we focus primarily on noncognitive ability, purpose-driven long-term goal setting, and task strategy (i.e., short-term goal) adaptation. Finally, we develop an organizing framework examining how, and under what conditions, work-related goal setting manifests, highlighting grit’s distinction from other historically related constructs. Coupled with the assumption that individuals hold higher order organizational goals toward which they are passionate, our organizing framework includes feedback mechanisms accounting for grit’s developmental properties over time. Finally, we acknowledge significant areas for future research and potential practical implications.

Organizational politics are prevalent and unavoidable (Ferris & Treadway, 2012). However, for organizational politics to impact employee attitudes and behaviors, they must first be perceived and ac...

Drawing on trait activation theory, we examined the processes linking perceived abusive supervision to subordinate self-report job performance and subordinate job satisfaction by focusing on the me...