The Role of Procedural Justice Climate in Reactions to Performance Appraisals

Abstract

Previous research has established that relationships with authority figures and procedural justice perceptions are important in terms of the way in which employees react to organizational procedures that affect them. What is less clear are the reasons why exchange quality with authorities is related to perceptions of process fairness and the role of procedural justice climate in this process. Based on an integration of leader-member exchange and procedural justice literatures, we test competing perspectives as to the mediators of the relationship between leader-member exchange and performance appraisal reactions, and we investigate the role of procedural justice climate in reactions to appraisals. Results indicate that individual-level perceptions of procedural justice, but not performance ratings, partially mediate the relationship between exchange quality and reactions, and that procedural justice climate is positively related to perceptions of procedural justice and appraisal reactions. These results support a more relational than instrumental view of justice perceptions in the appraisal process, and perhaps other organizational procedures bound by exchange quality with an authority. They suggest that it is essential for managers to actively monitor and manage employee perceptions of process fairness at the group level— across different organizational procedures.