The finding of this research indicates that individuals in a work unit are likely to develop negative attitudes and engage in deviate behaviors in response to a manager who is more mistreating toward some unit members but not toward others. These effects were found to be strong after explaining for each individual’s personal experience of misuse from the manager. The findings are significant because they highlight the importance of mistreating management variability as a distinct unit-level construct. In sum, the findings highlight the importance of examining mistreating management at both the individual and unit levels of analyzes. This research shows that, in a work unit, non-targeted members are caused some of these negative outcomes because they are the unfair interpersonal treatment of others. Organizations should educate managers on how contradictory interpersonal treatment of subordinates impacts the fairness of the work unit and the negative implication on both targeted and non-targeted subordinates.
