A Theory of Attribution Profiles and Employee (Dis)trust Reactions to Supervisor Justice Enactment

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Although they value fair treatment, employees may not react in an equally favorable manner when experiencing the same justice from their supervisors. Prior research has suggested that employees tend to reason why their supervisors acted fairly and their attributions lead to cognitive, affective, and behavioral consequences. However, this research stream overlooks the reality of employee-supervisor power dependence, thus providing an oversimplified theory of employee attributions to supervisor justice motives. Drawing on power-dependence theory, we develop a theoretical framework delineating how the different forms of power dependence within the employee-supervisor dyad shape distinct patterns of employee attributions of supervisor justice motives, and how the combinations of motive attributions affect employee (dis)trust reactions to supervisor justice. Challenging the assumption that there is homogeneity in employee attributions of supervisor justice motives, our research conceptualizes heterogeneous groups of employees when making justice motive attributions, advances the understanding of employee reactions to justice, and has important implications for research on interpersonal relationships.