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Fairness perceptions in organizations have long been of interest to practitioners and academicians (Colquitt, Conlon, Wesson, Porter, and Ng, 2001). Early research treated organizational justice as a function of the organization (McFarlin and Sweeney, 1992); however, more recently it has been viewed as applicable to supervisors as well (i.e., supervisory justice) via the social exchange model (Malatesta and Byme, 1997; Rupp and Cropanzano, 2002). This new stream of research acknowledges that justice perceptions can emanate from not only the organization, but also from the supervisor.
Research that completely explains the supervisory justice paradigm is scarce. In particular, the process by which supervisory justice elicits trust via social exchange theory has been largely unexplored (Yang, Mossholder, and Peng, 2009). According to Yang et al. (2009), research that explores more attitudinal and behavioral work outcomes is warranted. Although research has found trust to be multidimensional (Cropanzano, Rupp, Möhler, and Schminke, 2001 and Yang et al., 2009), this study will focus on only two dimensions (cognitive and affective). According to Yang et al. (2009), "It is important to recognize this two-dimensional perspective of trust because such an approach has the potential to reveal distinctive mechanisms through which supervisory procedural justice influences employees' positive attitude and behavior." Therefore, the objective of this study is to extend our understanding of how supervisory justice elicits positive work outcomes in a dyadic relationship from a social exchange perspective. First, we explain some basic terms and concepts.
Social exchange theory. Social exchange theory proposes that individuals willingly invest in relationships in which they provide services that benefit others but requiring an obligation by the other party to reciprocate by providing something in return (Blau, 1964). Social exchanges can be conceptualized in two categories: global exchanges, which occur between an employee and the organization; and dyadic relationships, which occur between the subordinate and supervisor (Setton, Bennett, and Liden, 1996). Settoon et al. (1996) found that global exchanges were positively related to perceptions of organizational support and that dyadic relationships were positively related to leader-member exchange.
The main task in a social exchange is to identify various entities (e.g., organization, supervisor) with whom individuals engage socially in an organizational setting. Such social exchange relationships typically involve sacrificing self-interests and engaging in mutually beneficial endeavors. Although...