Transformational Leadership, Interactional Justice, and Organizational Citizenship Behavior: The Effects of Racial and Gender Dissimilarity Between Supervisors and Subordinates

We examined the mediating influence of interactional justice on relations between transformational leadership and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Because the relational context in which supervisors and subordinates interact could influence the mediated effect of transformational leadership on OCB, we developed a first stage moderation model and examined supervisor-subordinate dissimilarities in race and gender as potential moderating variables. Analyses performed using 230 supervisor-subordinate dyads showed that racial dissimilarity moderated the mediated effect of transformational leadership on OCB transmitted through interactional justice. As hypothesized, the mediated effect of transformational leadership on OCB was stronger for subordinates who were racially dissimilar to their supervisors. Gender dissimilarity did not moderate the mediation model.