A Heuristic for All? A Multiple Needs Approach to Fairness Heuristic Formation in Digital Transformation in Chinese Work Organizations

Abstract

Procedural fairness is an important issue in organizations because people consider it key to both favorable instrumental outcomes such as innovation and positive relations. This article proposes two possible relational issues in the Chinese workplace during the process of digital transformation: the exclusiveness of the authority–subordinate relationship and fate control in such relationships. Next, based on the multiple needs model of procedural fairness and the fairness heuristic theory, we argue that a subordinate with high self-esteem, a high need for control, and/or a high need to belong is more likely to have greater concerns about both relational issues, to show polarized reactions to the presence or absence of voice, and to form a heuristic for trust in an authority. The findings proposed the reason why people in the Chinese culture respond to voice differently. This article investigates the psychological mechanism of individual's procedural fairness perception in the process of organizational digital transformation and provides rare evidence that helps increase our understanding of how, in a non-Western culture, people's psychological needs interact to facilitate their formation of procedural fairness judgments and who uses these judgments as a heuristic for trust.