Fairness in feedback: Effects of justice in performance appraisal.

摘要

Organizational justice is a critical indicator of performance appraisal reactions. Several studies indicate that employees react more favorably to fair performance appraisals (Korsgaard & Roberson, 1995; Taylor, Masterson, Renard, & Tracy, 1998) and that fairness is required for performance appraisals to have a positive impact on employee performance (Cook & Crossman, 2004; Murphy & Cleveland, 1995). Using a longitudinal design and multiple data sources and applying the agent-system model, this study examined the differential influence of procedural, distributive, informational, and interpersonal justice on leader-member exchange, and employee performance (task and contextual) and attitudes (commitment). The impact of procedural, informational, and interpersonal justice perceptions on subsequent distributive justice perceptions was also examined. Finally, LMX and Work Locus of Control (WLOC) were also examined as potential moderators of the relationship between justice and employee outcomes. As predicted, informational justice was found to predict significantly more variance in LMX than interpersonal justice. However, contrary to predictions and the agent-system model, the four dimensions of justice did not consistently and differentially predict agent and system-level outcomes. Procedural, informational, and interpersonal justice did not have a significant impact on distributive justice perceptions. Furthermore, supervisor-rated LMX moderated the relationship between distributive justice and contextual performance and commitment, whereas employee-rated LMX did not moderate any of the proposed relationships. Results also did not support WLOC as a moderator. Post-hoc analyses demonstrated an interaction between distributive justice and LMX inflation, an imbalanced positive perception of the LMX relationship by the supervisor or subordinate, to predict contextual performance and commitment. Limitations and future directions regarding examination of the impact of LMX inflation on other organizational outcomes and subsequent perceptions of LMX are discussed.