Identity leadership, procedural justice, and group identification in uncertain organizational contexts

Identity leadership helps group members both to reduce their subjective uncertainty about what to think and how to behave and to obtain a positive social identity. In organizations, procedural justice too supports group members' positive social identity. According to the Uncertainty Identity theory, in uncertain contexts, the motivation to reduce subjective uncertainty takes precedence over the motivation to obtain a positive social identity in driving group identification. The paper tests the hypothesis that, among the most uncertain workers, identity leadership interacts negatively with procedural justice in their association with group identification. By means of three correlational studies carried out in real organizational contexts, the paper examines different types of experienced uncertainty: the uncertainty stemming from a merger (Study 1, N = 152); the broader uncertainty due to market instability and fast technological changes (Study 2, N = 382); the uncertainty related to the frequency of computer-mediated communication (Study 3, N = 209). Results consistently show that, among the participants who feel the highest uncertainty in their working conditions and the participants who interact using computer-mediated communication at the highest frequency, the association between group identification and procedural justice becomes weaker as identity leadership increases. Those results highlight the risk that in uncertain contexts, group members keep identifying with their group even in the face of procedural injustice if they perceive their leader as an identity leader. Thus the paper illuminates a condition where identity leadership may lead group members to tolerate and even support toxic environments.