What motivates managers to deliver bad news in a just manner and why do some managers fail to treat recipients of bad news with dignity and respect? Given the importance of delivering bad news in a just manner, answering these questions is critical to promote justice in the workplace. Drawing on appraisal theories of emotions, we propose that people with higher core self-evaluations may be less likely to deliver bad news in an interpersonally just manner. This is because these actors are more likely to appraise the delivery of bad news as a situation in which they have high coping potential and are therefore less likely to experience anxiety. However, we propose that anxiety can be important for propelling the enactment of interpersonal justice. We test our predictions across three studies (with four samples of full-time managers and employees). Theoretical and practical contributions include enhancing our understanding of who is motivated to enact interpersonal justice, why they are motivated to do so, and how to enhance justice in the workplace. Our findings also challenge the assumption that negative emotions are necessarily dysfunctional for the enactment of interpersonal justice and instead highlight the facilitative role of anxiety in this context.

是什么促使管理者以公正的方式传递坏消息？为什么有些管理者不能以尊严和尊重的态度对待坏消息的接收者？鉴于以公正的方式传递坏消息的重要性，回答这些问题对于促进工作场所的正义至关重要。借鉴情绪评估理论，我们提出核心自我评估较高的人可能不太可能以人际公正的方式传递坏消息。这是因为这些参与者更有可能将坏消息的传递评估为他们具有高应对潜力的情况，因此不太可能经历焦虑。然而，我们认为焦虑对于推动人际正义的制定可能很重要。我们在三项研究中检验了我们的预测（四个全职经理和员工样本）。理论和实践贡献包括增强我们对谁有动机实施人际正义的理解，为什么他们有这样做的动机，以及如何加强工作场所的正义。我们的研究结果还挑战了消极情绪必然会影响人际正义的假设，而是强调了焦虑在这种情况下的促进作用。