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Abstract
The population in the United States is increasingly becoming more diverse. The share of minorities in the United States has grown substantially in recent decades and is projected to continue to grow. These trends have translated into a more diverse labor force, too. Minority groups, like Hispanics and Asians, participate in the labor force at higher rates than Caucasians. Despite these statistics, minorities hold only 25% of minorities hold managerial positions. As the share of minorities in the workforce continues to grow, yet are supervised by managers from most likely a different ethnic background, management scholars must consider the implications of managing a workforce that is more culturally diverse than ever before. The current study focused specifically on the types of justice enacted by supervisors, mainly interpersonal and informational justice, as they capture dynamics of interpersonal relationships that are likely affected by cross-cultural interactions. We investigated whether perceived discrimination, in the form of microaggressions, influences minorities’ perceptions of interpersonal justice, and whether that relationship depends on trust in the supervisor. In addition, we explored whether language barriers and culture value discrepancies between supervisor and subordinate influence informational justice. In a sample of 259 Hispanics, chosen because of their rapid population growth and unique culture, we found that microaggressions are negatively related to interpersonal justice. However, that negative relationship is buffered if subordinates are able to trust their supervisor. In addition, the greater extent of language barriers and the greater the discrepancy between supervisor and subordinate on the high-context/low-context cultural dimension, the lower levels of perceived informational justice. This study adds to the very limited literature on the predictors of organizational justice and integrates the justice literature with the diversity literature. Our findings have implications for future research (e.g. they can be expanded to other minority groups) and for practice, as organizations can develop diversity training programs to diminish feelings of injustice in minorities.