Red tape is an important feature of the daily reality of most public managers and employees. Research has shown that perceived red tape has however mainly focused on the perceptions of employees and managers in isolation. In this study, we argue that employees' reactions to red tape do not form in silos and are intricately linked to social interactions at work. Building on this assumption, we explore the supervisor-employee (dis)agreement about red tape and examine its effects on employees’ perception of mission valence and subsequent work attitudes. Using polynomial regressions among a sample of 291 supervisor-employee dyads working in three public administration departments, we find that employee mission valence is lower when a) when both parties agree that red tape is high; b) the employee perceives less red tape than their leader. Our results also show that the agreement configurations are related to job engagement and affective commitment through perceptions of mission valence (mediator).
