Perceptions of organizational tightness-looseness moderate associations between perceived unfair discrimination and employees' job attitudes

Abstract

Fusing social psychological theory on the BIAS map and attributions with cross-cultural theory on organizational tightness-looseness, we examine the interactive effects of active/passive facilitation/harm by organizational members and perceptions of organizational tightness on employee job attitudes. Study hypotheses were tested using a sample of bank employees located across 26 branches of a large bank in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (N = 324). Using a norm-behavior alignment perspective, we hypothesized that (supportive) active facilitation behaviors would be more strongly related to employee attitudes in tight versus loose perceived organizational cultures, whereas (negative) passive facilitation, active harm, and passive harm behaviors would be less strongly related to employee attitudes in tight versus loose perceived organizational cultures. Results provided overall support for these expectations. The present findings have implications for the mitigation of the effects of unfair discrimination on employee attitudes in organizational contexts, theorized associations between cultural T-L and unfair discrimination, and the generalizability of cultural T-L theory to developing country contexts that are typified by collectivistic and tight societal cultures.