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Loss of Trust: The Negative Effects of Leader Discrimination and the Mitigating Effects of Organizational Respons

Posted on:2019-08-21Degree:M.SType:Thesis
University:Missouri University of Science and TechnologyCandidate:Pepper, Andrew WadeFull Text:PDF
GTID:2479390017493247Subject:Organizational Behavior
Abstract/Summary:
This thesis focuses on how perceptions of leader discriminatory behavior influence trust in the leader and, subsequently, attitudes about the organization which the leader represents. This study builds on previous research findings by creating a 2 (discriminatory interaction) X 2 (procedural response) X 2 (distributive response) experimental design model with vignettes that focused a leader's discriminatory or non-discriminatory behaviors and how the organization responds to accusations of such behavior. Participants (N = 293) were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk and randomly assigned to read one of the two vignettes describing a supervisor's discriminatory or non-discriminatory behavior. After reporting perceptions shaped by the first vignette, participants were randomly assigned to read one for four possible vignettes that represent the organization's actions and manipulates the procedural justice (whether an investigation was conducted or not) and the actions of the organization as seen as a form of distributive justice (whether the supervisor was fired or not). Results indicate that leader discriminatory behavior reduced trust and that through a "trickle up" process (Fulmer & Ostroff, 2017) the trust in the leader affected the trust and attraction to the organization that the leader was seen to represent. These impacts are further moderated by perceptions of procedural and distributive justice to any organizational intervention in response to reports of the discriminatory behavior. The actions and inactions of organizations prove to be an important factor in how employees perceive justice in response to perceptions of leader discriminatory behavior.
Keywords/Search Tags:Leader, Organization, Perceptions, Response, Justice
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