The Apparent Locus of Managerial Decision Making and Perceptions of Fairness in Public Personnel Management

• Date: 01 September 2019
• Author: Mogens Jin Pedersen,Justin M. Stritch
• Published date: 01 September 2019
• DOI: 10.1177/0091026018819017
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0091026018819017

Public Personnel Management

2019, Vol. 48(3) 392 –412

© The Author(s) 2018

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DOI: 10.1177/0091026018819017

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Article

The Apparent Locus of

Managerial Decision Making

and Perceptions of Fairness in

Public Personnel Management

Justin M. Stritch1 and Mogens Jin Pedersen2,3

Abstract

A topic that remains underexplored in public management research is how the

appearance of a formal rule or policy as guiding personnel decisions may affect employee

perceptions of organizational decision outcomes. In this article, we consider how the

locus of decision making (e.g., the apparent source of a decision) affects perceptions

of a decision’s fairness. We examine this question with three survey experiments

using case vignettes, each describing a distinct personnel decision-making scenario. In

each case vignette, we manipulate the locus of decision making (a single supervisor,

a team of supervisors, or an organizational policy). We find heterogeneous effects

across the three case vignettes. We conclude with a discussion of the implications

and future directions for public management research.

Keywords

decision making, rules and policies, organizational justice, survey experiment

Introduction

Rules and processes, both formal and informal, characterize organizations (Gouldner,

1954; March & Simon, 1958; Simon & Barnard, 1976). Formal policies might codify

existing rules or processes, or rules might exist as part of the informal organization

system. Rules and processes might also differ in the costs of compliance—some

1Arizona State University, Phoenix, USA

2VIVE—The Danish Center for Social Science Research, Copenhagen, Denmark

3Aarhus University, Denmark

Corresponding Author:

Justin M. Stritch, Arizona State University, 411 N. Central Avenue, 480C, Phoenix, AZ 85004, USA.

Email: jstritch@asu.edu

819017PPMXXX10.1177/0091026018819017Public Personnel ManagementStritch and Pedersen

research-article2018

Stritch and Pedersen 393

requiring resources, such as time and effort, whereas others require minimal effort to

comply with or enforce. Moreover, employees might see rules and processes as useful

(DeHart-Davis, 2009)—or employees might see a rule as serving no functional pur-

pose (Bozeman, 1993; Bozeman & Feeney, 2011; Kaufmann & Feeney, 2012). As

DeHart-Davis, Davis, and Mohr (2015) aptly observe, “Organizational rules are the

backdrop of public employee life” (p. 849).

One area, however, that remains underexplored in public management research is

how the appearance of formal rules or policy as guiding personnel decisions affects

employee perceptions of organizational decision outcomes. Does the apparent locus of

decision making—the apparent source of a decision—affect the perceived fairness of

organizational personnel decisions?

In the past few decades, reforms to civil service systems in the United States have

provided managers more flexibility in the day-to-day management of their organiza-

tions (T. Christensen & Lægreid, 2002; Condrey & Battaglio, 2007; Osborne &

Gaebler, 1992; Rubin, 2009; Rubin & Kellough, 2012). Although policies continue to

guide managerial actions as they relate to personnel decision making, traditional pub-

lic personnel system rules and policies are increasingly being questioned, undermined,

and even eliminated (Condrey, 2002; Condrey & Battaglio, 2007; Kellough & Nigro,

2002, 2006a, 2006b). Understanding the effects of how public managers frame per-

sonnel decisions is, thus, a timely and salient issue.

In addition, public management scholarship highlights the importance of employee

perceptions of organizational fairness. For example, Hassan (2013) observes that equi-

table and fair treatment of employees in public organizations has normative roots based

on equal protection and constitutional principles, and that fairness perceptions have sub-

stantive implications for the effectiveness and efficiency of public organizations. Indeed,

public management scholars show that employees’ perceptions of fairness affect a wide

range of attitudes and behaviors, including job satisfaction and involvement, turnover,

intrinsic motivation, relationships with managers, and misbehaviors (Cho & Sai, 2012;

Choi, 2011; Daley, 2007; De Schrijver, Karlien, Maesschalck, & Pleysier, 2010; Kim &

Rubianty, 2011; Ko & Hur, 2014; Meng & Wu, 2012; Rubin, 2009, 2011).

This article examines how the apparent locus of decision making affects the extent

to which organizational personnel decisions are perceived as fair. In particular, we ask

the following question: Are personnel decisions framed as originating from a policy

perceived as more or less fair than the identical personnel decision framed as made

(a) by an individual supervisor or (b) by a supervisor along with a team of managers?

We examine this question using a randomized experimental survey design involving

three stylized case vignettes. Each vignette describes a specific personnel situation and

involves random assignment of the apparent locus of decision making (“policy,” “indi-

vidual supervisor,” or “team of supervisors”).

The article proceeds as follows. First, we discuss the importance of perceptions of

fairness to organizational outcomes. Second, we discuss three different loci of deci-

sion making and formulate hypotheses about how each might affect the extent that

employees perceive outcomes as fair relative to the others. Third, we present our data

and research design. Fourth, we show the results of our analyses, that is, how the