Good Things Are Not Eternal: How Consideration Leadership and Initiating Structure Influence the Dynamic Nature of Organizational Justice and Extra-Role Behaviors at the Collective Level

Abstract

The objective of this study was to test the linear and curvilinear influence of initiating structure (IS) and consideration leadership on the variability of extra-role behaviors over time, through the mediating effect of within-store level of distributive (DJ) and procedural justice (PJ). Data from 1,857 employees in 116 business units of a Canadian retailer collected over four waves were analyzed using random coefficient modeling. Our results show that IS and consideration have significant linear and curvilinear effects on within-unit PJ and DJ climates over time, and an indirect influence on the within-unit variability of extra-role behaviors through the mediating effect of DJ and PJ climates. Results underline the complexity of the effects of both leadership dimensions on PJ and DJ climates. While consideration is associated with an increase of both justice climates over time, low and high levels of IS are associated with a decrease in PJ climate over time, and a moderate level of IS was related to an increase of PJ climate. Moreover, the positive effects of leadership behaviors on extra-role behaviors shift completely after a certain time threshold. Surprisingly, while unit-level extra-role behaviors increased over time under high structure leadership, such behaviors decreased under high consideration. Finally, the results showed that the positive influence of PJ and DJ climates on unit-level extra-role behaviors decreases over time, and that low fairness units experience a more dramatic decrease of extra-role behaviors with time.