The automatic activation of (un)fairness behavior in organizations

Abstract

We conducted a high impact, laboratory experiment to examine the possibility that the enactment of (un)fairness behavior can be influenced by non-conscious processes. In Phase 1, participants completed an impression formation task in which they read a description of a fair and an unfair leader. The descriptions also included photographs of each leader. Later, we subliminally exposed participants to either the face of the fair leader, the face of the unfair leader, or a neutral face. In Phase 2, under the guise of an unrelated study, participants assumed the role of a manager and wrote a letter communicating a dismissal decision to a subordinate. The results demonstrate that participants were significantly less interactionally fair when communicating the dismissal decision after being subliminally exposed to the face of a leader whom they had mentally associated with unfairness, as compared to either the face of a leader they associated with fairness or the neutral face. The data suggest that people's enactment of fairness toward a third-party can be influenced by their mental representation of the unfairness of a salient other via automatic, non-conscious cognitive processes. We highlight the implications of our conceptual approach and current findings for theorizing on justice and on leadership, as well as for the study of organizational behavior more broadly. We also discuss several possible negative implications for organizations.