Distributive justice moderating the effects of self‐sacrificial leadership

This study examined the interactive effect of distributive justice and leader self‐sacrifice on employees' organizational commitment and autocratic leadership perceptions (ALP). We propose that positive leadership styles like self‐sacrifice will have a stronger impact on employees' attitudes and judgments when organizational outcomes are perceived and experienced as unfavorable or more negative. One such outcome that may turn out unfavorable is distributive justice. Findings indeed showed that leader self‐sacrifice positively influenced organizational commitment and negatively ALP, but only when distributive justice was low (i.e. perceptions of unfair outcomes).