Relationships of leader reward behavior with employee behavior: fairness and morale as key mediators

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine employee perceptions of fairness and work moraleas mediators of the relationship between leader reward behavior and employee behavior.Design/methodology/approach – A matrix of meta-analytic estimates containing the focalvariables (leader reward behavior, fairness, morale, and employee behavior) was constructed followinga literature review of published studies. This matrix was then analyzed using structural equationmodeling to test a series of nested models.Findings – Leader reward behavior is positively related to higher task performance andorganizational citizenship behavior, and fewer intentions to turnover. These relationships are mediatedby employees’ perceptions of fairness and work morale.Research limitations/implications – The paper extends the leadership literature by identifyingtwo mechanisms (viz., fairness and morale) through which leader reward behavior relates to employeebehavior. Possible limitations are the drawbacks associated with meta-analysis (e.g. inability to makecausal inferences).Practical implications – Rewarding subordinate performance alone is not sufficient to increase taskperformance and organizational citizenship behavior and decrease turnover intentions. Instead,managers must ensure that their contingent reward behaviors are seen as fair by employees in order tohave favorable effects.Originality/value – To date, research on possible mediators of the effects of leader reward behaviorhas been scarce