Employee role enlargement: Interactions of trust and organizational fairness

Abstract

Purpose

To investigate the antecedents and contingencies of employee role enlargement.

Design/methodology/approach

The hypotheses were tested using hierarchical regression analysis on data obtained by surveying 186 line and administrative employees.

Findings

Results indicate that leader‐ and organization‐directed trust are positively related to employees' role enlargement toward individual‐ and organization‐directed citizenship behaviors (OCBOs). In addition, organizational justice moderated the above direct relationships. Specifically, interpersonal justice moderated the relationship between leader‐directed trust and role enlargement toward individual‐directed citizenship behaviors. Furthermore, procedural justice and distributive justice moderated the relationship between organization‐directed trust and role enlargement toward OCBOs, respectively.

Practical implications

Practitioners interested in interventions to enlarge the role perception of their employees can use organizational development interventions beyond the enhancement of social exchange factors such as leader‐ and organization‐directed trust. Depending on the desired individual or organizational focus of role enlargement, proper care should be given to fairness‐related components such as interpersonal, distributive and procedural justice.

Originality/value

The findings are valuable for those engaged in theory building and testing and for practitioners. From a theoretical perspective, the paper provides support for the interaction between trust and organizational justice and their impact on role enlargement. Practitioners can use these ideas to design organizational development interventions.

Citation

Chiaburu, D.S. and Marinova, S.V. (2006), "Employee role enlargement: Interactions of trust and organizational fairness", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 27 No. 3, pp. 168-182. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437730610657695