Voice or Consistency? What you perceive as procedurally fair depends on your level of power distance

Power distance (PD) is a cultural value known for its moderating effect on subordinates’ reaction to procedural justice. The reaction to procedural justice in general as well as the reaction to the voice criterion exclusively emerged to be stronger among low PD (LPD) than high PD (HPD) individuals. Until now, no research exists, however, on the effect of PD on Leventhal’s procedural justice criteria, when measured separately. By means of two studies, the effect of PD on voice was therefore compared with the effect of PD on Leventhal’s consistency criterion. Consistency was chosen due to HPD individuals’ preference for structure and stability. Study 1 (n = 258), a cross-cultural scenario-based study examining the effect in terms of received and violated fairness, revealed a moderating effect of PD on the reaction to voice, but not on the reaction to consistency. Voice was found to be exclusively important for LPD individuals, whereas consistency emerged to be important regardless of PD. Study 2, a mono-cultural within-subjects study (n = 161), replicated these results. Accordingly, not voice but consistency seems to be the procedural justice criterion of particular relevance for managers to consider in times of globalization and increasing cultural diversity.