equality and equity ; fair ; unfair ; investment and return ; cross-levels ; level-specific ; individualized interpersonal relationships ; fallacy of
wrong level ; systematic misperception ; attribution theory ; average
leadership style approach ; vertical dyad linkage approach
Abstract
Based on approaches to leadership and distribute justice, this paper investigated whether subordinates view equal or unequal treatment by their supervisor as fair or unfair. Multiple-level analyses of data, collected in 7 different organizations from 49 managers and their 147 subordinates, suggest that some supervisors treat their subordinates equally but others treat their subordinates unequally. Despite this finding, subordinates who report to the same supervisor do not necessarily agree about their supervisor treats them equally or unequally. Instead, reports of equity and equality covary with subordinates' individualized interpersonal relationships with their supervisors. In addition, the results showed that the relationship between equity and equality perceived by subordinates varies between groups and within groups. These results indicate that group effects do not exist and indicate that subordinates' perceptions of equity and equality for supervisor's treatment do not occur at cross-levels but level-specific. The results also showed that subordinates' perceptions of equity and equality for supervisor's treatment occur through the individualized interpersonal relationships. This paper concludes with a discussion of the finding that individualized interpersonal relationships between supervisors and subordinates may systematically bias subordinates' perceptions of group-level processes and produce correlations that result in inferences that contain "the fallacy of the wrong level."