Reliance and disclosure: How supervisory justice affects trust in supervisor and extra-role performance

This study examined the relationship between supervisory justice and trust in supervisor and their impacts on extra-role performance. Drawing on fairness heuristic theory, we hypothesized that supervisory interactional justice would significantly affect the two domains of trust in supervisor, namely, reliance and disclosure, which in turn enhance subordinate extra-role performance. We also predicted that supervisory procedural justice would moderate the relationship between supervisory interactional justice and trust in supervisor. We tested our hypotheses using a sample of 111 insurance agent-manager dyads. The results showed that although supervisory interactional justice was positively related to both reliance and disclosure, only disclosure mediated its effect on extra-role performance. In addition, supervisory procedural justice moderated the impact of supervisory interactional justice on reliance but not disclosure. The implications for research on justice and trust are discussed.