Contextualizing Procedural Fairness: Factors Mediating the Effect of Process Control on Leadership Evaluation in Organizations

Two studies were conducted to examine contextual mediators of the relationship between process control and evaluations of authority in organizations. Specifically, the studies investigated the role in this relationship of intragroup conflict, the necessity for future cooperation, and group members' level of experience. In Study 1, subjects with current experience working in schools were led to believe that future cooperation among teachers in a hypothetical school was important, and thus were more likely to give a favorable evaluation to a leader who used a decision-making procedure lacking in process control than were subjects who had not worked in a school. The experienced subjects in the future cooperation condition also judged that cooperation among group members would more likely be saved by this procedure. In Study 2 -- a survey conducted in several elementary and high schools -- experienced teachers who perceived considerable need for future cooperation in their schools placed less emphasis on process control when they evaluated their supervisors. Results suggest the need for further examination of group and individual factors as mediators of the procedural fairness effect in organizations.