Antecedents of Employee Thriving at Work: The Roles of Formalization, Ethical Leadership and Interpersonal Justice

Document Type

Article

Source of Publication

Applied Psychology

Publication Date

1-8-2021

Abstract

In this paper, we examine whether the presence of a mechanistic structure (i.e., formalization) hinders or facilitates employee thriving at work. In doing so, we examine formalization as an antecedent of employee thriving at work. Specifically, we examine why and when formalization, as an important contextual factor, may facilitate employee thriving at work. We hypothesize that the positive relation between formalization and employees’ thriving at work is mediated by their interpersonal justice perceptions. Further, we hypothesize that ethical leadership moderates the indirect relationship between formalization and employee thriving at work via interpersonal justice. As such, this relationship is stronger in the presence of relatively high (rather than relatively low) levels of ethical leadership. Results from a two‐wave field study provide support for our hypotheses. We also discuss the theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and future research directions for our findings.

ISSN

0269-994X

Publisher

Wiley

Disciplines

Business | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Scopus ID

85101284678

Indexed in Scopus

yes

Open Access

no

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