title: Misery loves company: team dissonance and the influence of supervisor-focused interpersonal justice climate on team cohesiveness.
abstract: The organizational justice literature has examined the effects of supervisor-focused interpersonal justice climate, or a team's shared perception of the dignity and respect it receives from its supervisor, on a number of important outcomes directed at organizational authorities. Considerably less is known about the potential influence of these shared perceptions on coworker-directed outcomes. In 2 experiments, we predict that a low (unfair) supervisor-focused interpersonal justice climate generates greater team cohesiveness than a high (fair) supervisor-focused interpersonal justice climate. We further examine the process through which this effect occurs. Drawing from cognitive dissonance theory, we predict that low (vs. high) supervisor-focused interpersonal justice climate generates greater team dissonance, or shared psychological discomfort, for team members and that this dissonance serves as an underlying mechanism through which supervisor-focused interpersonal justice climate influences a team's cohesiveness. Our results demonstrate support for these predictions in that low supervisor-focused interpersonal justice climate led to higher levels of both team dissonance and team cohesiveness than did high supervisor-focused interpersonal justice climate, and team dissonance mediated this relationship. Implications and areas for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).
authors.affiliation: Department of Management.
authors.forename: Adam C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Stoverink
authors.affiliation: Department of Management and Organization, University of Washington.
authors.forename: Elizabeth E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Umphress
authors.affiliation: Department of Organizational Leadership and Strategy, Brigham Young University.
authors.forename: Richard G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Gardner
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Women's and Gender Studies Program, Texas A&M University.
authors.forename: Kathi N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Miner
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D005260:Female; D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D007857:Leadership; D008297:Male; D015279:Organizational Culture; D012935:Social Justice / Q000523:psychology*; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult