Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 26, 2026

Using Visual and Narrative Methods to Achieve Fair Process in Clinical Care
Published on: February 16, 2011
Substitutes for procedural fairness: prototypical leaders are endorsed whether they are fair or not
Johannes Ullrich1, Oliver Christ, Rolf van Dick
1Department of Psychology, Goethe University, Germany. ullrich@psych.uni-frankfurt.de
Abstract:
This article extends research on leader procedural fairness as well as the social identity model of leadership effectiveness (SIMOL) by demonstrating that leader prototypicality can act as a substitute for procedural fairness. Although procedural fairness in general and voice in particular have been found to have a robust positive influence on leader endorsement, the authors showed in an experimental scenario study and a correlational field study that the influence of voice on leader endorsement is substantially reduced when leaders are perceived as prototypical for the group that they lead and followers are highly identified with their group. Additionally, supportive of predictions of the SIMOL, leader prototypicality interacted with follower identification in predicting leader endorsement, such that prototypicality had a positive effect on leader endorsement, which was enhanced among high identifiers. Overall, these results suggest that leaders who are attuned to their followers' group identity can afford to go it alone, for the better or the worse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).
Related Concept Videos
Equity Theory
Obedience
Groupthink
Stereotype Threat and Self-fulfilling Prophecies
Social Proof
The Stanford Prison Experiment
