Leader‐Member Exchange, Group‐ and Individual‐Level Procedural Justice and Reactions to Performance Appraisals

• Date: 01 September 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21724
• Published date: 01 September 2016

Human Resource Management, September–October 2016, Vol. 55, No. 5. Pp. 871–883

© 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com).

DOI:10.1002/hrm.21724

Correspondence to: Shaun Pichler, Department of Management, Mihaylo College of Business & Economics,

CaliforniaState University, Fullerton, 800 N. State College Blvd., Fullerton, CA 92831, Phone: 657-728-4255,

E-mail: spichler@fullerton.edu

to organization scholars and managers (Balzer &

Sulsky, 1990) because they are key to appraisal

effectiveness (DeNisi & Gonzalez, 2000) and they

predict future motivation and performance (e.g.,

Nathan, Mohrman, & Milliman, 1991; Pettijohn,

Pettijohn, & d’Amico, 2001). Performance apprais-

als occur in a social context (Murphy & Cleveland,

Performance appraisal is one of the most

ubiquitous management tools used in

organizations and one of the most com-

monly studied topics in the manage-

ment and organization literature (Arvey &

Murphy, 1998). Employee reactions to performance

appraisals are one of the most important criteria

LEADER-MEMBER EXCHANGE,

GROUP- AND INDIVIDUAL-LEVEL

PROCEDURAL JUSTICE AND

REACTIONS TO PERFORMANCE

APPRAISALS

SHAUN PICHLER, ARUP VARMA, JESSE S. MICHEL,

PAUL E. LEVY, PAWAN S. BUDHWAR, AND

ARTI SHARMA

Previous research has established that relationships with authority fi gures

and procedural justice perceptions are important in terms of the way in which

employees react to organizational procedures that affect them. What is less clear

are the reasons why exchange quality with authorities is related to perceptions of

process fairness and the role of procedural justice climate in this process. Results

indicate that individual-level perceptions of procedural justice, but not perfor-

mance ratings, partially mediate the relationship between exchange quality and

reactions to performance appraisals, and that procedural justice climate is posi-

tively related to perceptions of procedural justice and appraisal reactions. These

results support a more relational than instrumental view of justice perceptions in

organizational procedures bound by exchange quality with an authority fi gure.

Our study suggests that it is essential for managers to actively monitor and man-

age employee perceptions of process fairness at the group and individual levels.

© 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Keywords: organizational justice, procedural justice, procedural justice climate,

supervisor-subordinate relationships, leader-member exchange, performance

appraisal, social context