Examining the mediating effect of supervisor conflict on procedural injustice–job strain relations: The function of power distance.

Abstract

The present study examined the associations among procedural injustice, conflict with a supervisor (supervisor conflict), and job strains for employees with different power distance orientations. Using data from 301 university employees, along with corroborative reports from a coworker of each employee, we tested a moderated mediation model in which the indirect effect of procedural injustice on job strains (e.g., anxiety and depression) through supervisor conflict was conditional upon employees' power distance orientation. We found perceived procedural injustice was positively related to supervisor conflict, and this relation was moderated by employees' power distance orientation (as supported by both self- and coworker-reported conflict data). The pattern of the moderating effect indicated the positive relation between procedural injustice and supervisor conflict was only significant among employees with low to moderate power distance orientations. As expected, supervisor conflict served as the underlying mechanism linking perceived procedural injustice and employees' anxiety/depression (as supported by self-reported conflict data). The mediating effect of supervisor conflict was significant for employees with low to moderate power distance orientations but not for employees with high power distance orientation. This study broadens the focus of research on supervisor conflict and presents a more complex model of how perceived injustice influences employees' job strains than is currently available in the literature.