When algorithmic managers fail to fulfill their promises: The role of anthropomorphism in shaping justice perceptions.

ABSTRACT: This study explored how employees perceive distributive justice (i.e., perceived fairness of an outcome) when algorithmic managers fail to fulfill their promises. Moreover, drawing on anthropomorphism theory, we further investigated the moderating role of the anthropomorphism of algorithmic managers. We hypothesized that employees perceive lower distributive justice when their algorithmic manager fails to fulfill transactional rather than relational promises, especially when the manager is not anthropomorphized. We conducted two vignette experiments to test our hypotheses. In both Study 1 (N = 258 employees; Mage = 36.76) and Study 2 (N = 248 employees; Mage = 37.12), a 2 (type of nonfulfilled promises: relational versus transactional) × 2 (algorithmic manager's anthropomorphism: high vers

SUBMITTER: Fousiani K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12923041 | biostudies-literature | 2026

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature