Perception of Criteria for Supervisor’s Decisions and Its Effects on Subordinate’s Cognition, Emotion & Behavior ─A Reward Allocation Context

Chinese management style is strongly influenced by Chinese culture. In Chinese organization, supervisors will classify subordinates by using three criteria(guanxi, loyalty and competence), and their interactions with different categories of subordinates vary. It''s called employee categorization process. However, the perception of subordinate are ignored. Hence, in the study, the author takes the perspective of the subordinate, to know what the effects of subordinates are when they perceive the different criteria which the supervisors use to govern the decisions. In addition, explore power distance orientation as a moderator of the influence of the different criteria which the supervisors use to govern the decisions, and the relationship with the subordinate’s reactions. This study uses the scenario experiment with a reward allocation context, and between-subject design by the group of guanxi, loyalty, competence and baseline. Given the research results, compared with other groups, the group of competence has the highest justice perception, and the lowest turnover intention. Nevertheless, there is no difference in negative emotion between four groups. Moreover, power distance orientation of subordinate will moderate the relationship between justice perception and the different criteria which the supervisors use to govern the decisions. All assumptions in the research are mostly totally or partially verified. Finally, contributions and limitations are also discussed, and suggestions are provided for future studies and managerial practices in Chinese organizations.