Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics Commons^™

Looks Aren't Everything: Aren't Managers Concerned With Actually Being Fair, Terri A. Scandura Phd, Cecily D. Cooper

Management Faculty Articles and Papers

The justice literature has unequivocally noted how important it is employees feel they are treated fairly. Accordingly, managers often find themselves in predicaments of injustice which they must resolve. Research on social accounts describes strategies managers can use to make themselves “seem fair,” thus, alleviating their predicament. But in taking an impression management perspective of justice, this literature fails to acknowledge that many managers actually want to “be fair.” Based on the latter assumption, we propose an alternative framework for understanding how managers will address justice-related predicaments.