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What Influences How Higher-Status People Respond to Lower-Status Others? Effects of Procedural Fairness, Outcome Favorability, and Concerns About Status

Author

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  • Steven L. Blader

    (Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University, New York, New York 10012)

  • Ya-Ru Chen

    (Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853)

Abstract

How do individuals with higher status react to their encounters with lower-status counterparts? Four studies explore this issue, focusing on higher-status parties' concerns with the outcome favorability and procedural fairness of those encounters. Across a wide range of contexts and bases of status, Study 1 found an interaction effect in which outcome favorability had a stronger relationship with higher-status parties' reactions when procedural fairness was high rather than low, in sharp contrast to previous findings in the justice literature. Studies 2, 3, and 4 explored the mechanism underlying this novel finding, testing the proposal that this interaction pattern is rooted in higher-status individuals' use of outcome and procedure information to determine whether their counterpart is validating---or challenging---their relatively higher status position. They conduct this test by examining the moderating influence of dispositional factors that vary the extent to which individuals are interested in social information from their lower-status counterpart regarding their relative status position. In particular, they test the prediction that the interaction will be accentuated among individuals who are (1) low in self-esteem, (2) high in need to belong, (3) low in power distance orientation, and (4) high in general concern about status. Results confirm these predictions. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings for social exchanges at work, organizational justice, and status are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Steven L. Blader & Ya-Ru Chen, 2011. "What Influences How Higher-Status People Respond to Lower-Status Others? Effects of Procedural Fairness, Outcome Favorability, and Concerns About Status," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(4), pages 1040-1060, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:22:y:2011:i:4:p:1040-1060
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.1100.0558
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Fang Shuai, 2019. "Homophily Exclusion or Homophily Preference? The Influence of the Executive Identity of Nonexecutive Directors on the Focal Firm Executive Pay and Ordinary Employee Pay," Journal of Systems Science and Information, De Gruyter, vol. 7(6), pages 550-567, December.
    2. Duan, Jinyun & Peluso, Alessandro M. & Yu, Linhan & Pilati, Massimo, 2021. "How employment relationship types influence employee work outcomes: The role of need for status and vigor," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 211-221.
    3. Jone L. Pearce & Qiumei Jane Xu, 2012. "Rating Performance or Contesting Status: Evidence Against the Homophily Explanation for Supervisor Demographic Skew in Performance Ratings," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(2), pages 373-385, April.
    4. Li, Weiwen & Lu, Yuan & Makino, Shige & Lau, Chung-Ming, 2017. "National power distance, status incongruence, and CEO dismissal," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 52(6), pages 809-818.
    5. Xie, Xiao-Yun & Wei, Junjie & Hu, Qiongjing & Liao, Zhenyu, 2023. "Is the door really open? A contingent model of boundary spanning behavior and abusive supervisory behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    6. Arnett, Rachel D. & Sidanius, Jim, 2018. "Sacrificing status for social harmony: Concealing relatively high status identities from one’s peers," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 108-126.
    7. Pettit, Nathan C. & Doyle, Sarah P. & Lount, Robert B. & To, Christopher, 2016. "Cheating to get ahead or to avoid falling behind? The effect of potential negative versus positive status change on unethical behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 172-183.
    8. Robert B. Lount, Jr. & Sarah P. Doyle & Sebastien Brion & Nathan C. Pettit, 2019. "Only When Others Are Watching: The Contingent Efforts of High Status Group Members," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(7), pages 3382-3397, July.
    9. Maitixirepu Jilili & Aliya Aini, 2023. "Examining the Moderating Effect of Occupational Status on the Association of Organizational Justice and Job Satisfaction," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 97-111, March.
    10. Chang, Jin Wook & Chow, Rosalind M. & Woolley, Anita W., 2017. "Effects of inter-group status on the pursuit of intra-group status," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 1-17.
    11. Wang, Yaming & Wang, Xingyuan & Chen, Haipeng (Allan) & Ouyang, Qiang, 2024. "Effect of status threat on preference for cross-domain self-improvement products: The moderation of trade-off beliefs," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    12. Anne M. Wilkins & Dana R. Hermanson & Jeffrey R. Cohen, 2016. "Do Compensation Committee Members Perceive Changing CEO Incentive Performance Targets Mid-Cycle to be Fair?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 137(3), pages 623-638, September.
    13. Koopman, Joel & Matta, Fadel K. & Scott, Brent A. & Conlon, Donald E., 2015. "Ingratiation and popularity as antecedents of justice: A social exchange and social capital perspective," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 132-148.
    14. Yu, Andrew & Hays, Nicholas A. & Zhao, Emma Y., 2019. "Development of a bipartite measure of social hierarchy: The perceived power and perceived status scales," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 84-104.

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