Malleability of Perceived Leader Justice: A Theoretical Model on the Role of Situational Affect and Leader Gender

Organizational scholars have often overlooked changes in employees’ perceptions of fairness regarding outcomes, procedures, and interactions at work. However, growing empirical evidence suggests significant temporal variability in justice perceptions. Despite the importance of this evidence, the mechanisms underlying changes in perceptions of leader fairness remain poorly understood. Scholars have called for theoretical models that explore the conditions under which fairness perceptions occur within individuals. This article aims to bridge the affective and justice literatures by proposing a model for understanding changes in fairness perceptions over time. It aims to contribute to the justice literature by clarifying how employees might adjust their perceptions of leader fairness through their situational affect. Additionally, it underscores the importance of leader gender in predicting change in employees’ perceived injustice of their leaders.