The impact of supervisor interpersonal justice on supervisor-directed citizenship behaviors in social enterprises: a moderated mediation model

Abstract

While prior research has examined the strategic role of social enterprise managers in the achievement of a double economic and social performance objective, a clear understanding of the supervisors’ role in fostering employees’ attitudes and behaviors is still lacking. To address this gap, our paper aims to examine the impact of supervisor interpersonal justice on supervisor-directed citizenship behaviors by developing a moderated mediation model. Survey data were collected from 196 supervisor-subordinate dyads employed in diverse French social enterprises. Our results show that psychological contract breach mediates the supervisor interpersonal justice – supervisor-directed citizenship behaviors relationship. Further, employees’ prosocial motivations moderate this indirect effect. Our research provides insight into the mechanisms of social exchange relationships in social enterprises. In a practical perspective, it also demonstrates that the development of an effective HRM in social enterprises requires the implementation of specific training and development programs for managers.

Keywords:

• Prosocial motivations
• psychological contract breach
• supervisor interpersonal justice
• supervisor-directed citizenship behaviors
• social enterprise
• social exchange relationships

Notes

1. There are several definitions of SEs in the literature that mostly reflect regional differences (Doherty, Haugh, & Lyon, 2014). For example, in the European approach, SEs are exclusively not-for-profit private organizations (with a limited distribution of profits) which seek to achieve a social mission through commercial activity. The European notion of SE focuses more heavily on the way the organization is governed in the respect of the nonprofit sector tradition. In the United States approach, the scope of SE has been extended to for-profit organizations which pursue social aims; and the profile of social entrepreneurs and the scaling up of social change have been particularly emphasized (Defourny & Nyssens, 2010).