The Role of Trust, Leader-Member Exchange, and Organizational Justice in Employee Attitudes and Behaviors: a Laboratory and Field Investigation
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Portland State University PDXScholar Dissertations and Theses Dissertations and Theses 10-2002 The Role of Trust, Leader-Member Exchange, and Organizational Justice in Employee Attitudes and Behaviors: A Laboratory and Field Investigation Rudolph Joseph Sanchez Portland State University Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds Part of the Industrial and Organizational Psychology Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Sanchez, Rudolph Joseph, "The Role of Trust, Leader-Member Exchange, and Organizational Justice in Employee Attitudes and Behaviors: A Laboratory and Field Investigation" (2002). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 3728. https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.5612 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. For more information, please contact pdxscholar@pdx.edu. THE ROLE OF TRUST, LEADER-MEMBER EXCHANGE, AND ORGANIZATIONAL JUSTICE IN EMPLOYEE ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS A LABORATORY AND FIELD INVESTIGATION By RUDOLPH JOSEPH SANCHEZ A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in SYSTEMS SCIENCE: PSYCHOLOGY Portland State University 2002 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. DISSERTATION APPROVAL The abstract and dissertation of Rudolph Joseph Sanchez for the Doctor of Philosophy in Systems Science: Psychology were presented October 18, 2002, and accepted by the dissertation committee and the doctoral program. COMMITTEE APPROVALS: Talya N. ^laugr, Chair Donald M. Truxillo James Prison Georee^a Lendaris eter Collier Representative of the Office of Graduate Studies DOCTORAL PROGRAM APPROVAL: Jorge'G. Lendaris Systems Science Ph. D. Program Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT An abstract of the dissertation of Rudolph Joseph Sanchez for the Doctor of Philosophy in Systems Science: Psychology were presented October 18, 2002. Title: The Role of Trust, Leader-Member Exchange, and Organizational Justice in Employee Attitudes and Behaviors: A Laboratory and Field Investigation The study of interpersonal relationships continues to be a major focus of theory and research in a wide array of disciplines. The present research examined one of the most prevalent and significant interpersonal relationships in the workplace context - the dyadic relationship between a supervisor and a subordinate. This research examined the relationships between trust, quality of the leader-member exchange relationship (LMX; a measure of the quality of the dyadic relationship), perceived organizational justice, and several employee attitudes and behaviors that are important to individual workers and the organizations in which they work. Data were collected in both laboratory and field settings. The laboratory setting allowed for the manipulation of organizational justice, which permitted inferences regarding the causal effects of organizational justice on the relationships between trust and LMX and the outcome variables examined. The field setting allowed for the testing of the hypothesized relationships in a “real world” environment in which external contextual factors (e.g., industry and organizational differences) were naturally controlled. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Two-hundred and twenty-three currently employed undergraduate students participated in the laboratory study. In the field study, data were collected in a Fortune 500 company from 113 subordinates and their supervisors. Results from both studies indicated that perceptions of trust in one’s supervisor were strongly related to LMX. Importantly, in the field study, quality of the dyadic relationship was modeled as an emergent property of the perceptions of both subordinates and supervisors. Perceptions of LMX were related to a sense of overall fairness, which was jointly determined by procedural and distributive justice. Perceptions of overall fairness were related to job satisfaction, intention to quit, organizational commitment, in-role job performance, organizational citizenship behavior, and organizational retaliatory behaviors. Additionally, results of the laboratory study indicated that established perceptions of trust in one’s supervisor and LMX were adversely affected by violations of either procedural or distributive justice. This adverse effect was greatest when both procedural and distributive justice were low. The theoretical and practical implications of the research are discussed. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Dedication For Mom and Dad Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Acknowledgements It is my firm belief that no project of this nature is accomplished by a single individual. Certainly, a person’s educational achievements culminating in a doctorate requires what I term “a conspiracy of success”. There are too many people to name individually who have positively impacted me in one way or another. However, I want to acknowledge some of those whom have encouraged me throughout my education and without whom I would not have completed this degree. All members of my immediate family have been unwavering in their support of my education. They have made untold sacrifices. I want to thank them all - Rosemarie Sanchez, Juliette Sanchez, Jo-anna Sanchez, Dolores Sanchez, Julia Ornelas. Although, my father, Rudolph Sanchez, and my maternal grandfather, Joe Ornelas, did not live to see me reach this milestone, I know that they have cheered me along the way both when they were living and after they passed away. The faculty at California State University, San Bernardino, especially Jan Kottke (chair of my thesis committee) and Matt Riggs, were essential in my preparation for a Ph.D. program. My colleagues at San Bernardino also were very important in my success and their encouragement has always been uplifting. I am also indebted to the Systems Science and Industrial/Organizational faculty at Portland State University. I am particularly grateful to Talya Bauer and Donald Truxillo who guided me not only in completing the Ph.D., but also in preparing me for a rewarding and successful career in academia. I will always remember their willingness to share their lives with me; challenge me to do more than Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. I perhaps thought I was ready for; and sticking with me when things got difficult. George Lendaris was the only Systems Science professor I had in my career at Portland State. He helped to simultaneously broaden and sharpen my thinking regarding the application of systems science concepts to my field. This has proved very helpful in my career already. I also thank Jim Paulson and Peter Collier, the other two members of my dissertation committee for their willingness to serve on the committee and their insightful suggestions on this research. There are others who have put their confidence in me at critical points in time. I thank the following people: Leslie Hammer for recruiting me to Portland State University and offering me my first teaching assistant position; Roger Jennings for offering me my first teaching opportunity at Portland State University; Ellen West from the School of Business, who offered me my first full-time teaching position. I also acknowledge my colleagues in the industrial and organizational psychology program and other graduate students in the psychology department who have been an invaluable source of support, intellectual stimulation, and most importantly friendship. I especially want to thank John Hunthausen, Cybelle Lyon, Krista Brockwood, Carl Azar, Johanna Glode, Joni Jansenn, Matt Paronto, and Mindy Ing. I also thank Mary Alice Bielenberg for her help in obtaining a data site. Most importantly, however, I thank her for her patience, support, and love during the writing of my dissertation. She has brought incredible joy into my life and I look forward to wonderful life with her. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Table of Contents Acknowledgements ...................................... ........................................ ii List of Tables................ vii List of Figures........................................................................................ x Glossary................................................................................................. xii Chapter 1 Introduction................................................................................1 Figures ....................................................................................... 6 Chapter 2 Trust Defined ...................................................................................... 8 Characteristics of the Trustor................................................... 9 Characteristics of the Trustee................................................... 11 Figures ........................................................................................19 Chapter 3 Leader-Member Exchange Theory Development............................................................................. 22 LMX