A new study revealed that employees prefer a consistently unfair boss to an erratic line manager.

Researchers from Michigan State University(MSU) found a manager who easily changes his behavior from courteous to rude is more stressful than a consistently harsh boss.

The study, published in the Academy of Management Journal, measured the stress levels of 160 students who participated in the experiment.

A third of those students were treated fairly, a third unfairly and a third erratically – from fair to unfair.

The researchers also conducted a field study of 95 employers in a variety of industries and the results supported the lab experiment results regarding worker-manager relations, as Independent mentions.

Lead author Fadel Matta, from the MSU Broad College of Business, said: “Our findings essentially show that employees are better off if their boss is a consistent jerk rather than being a loose cannon who’s fair at times and unfair at other times”.

“We found that inconsistent treatment is much more stressful than being treated poorly all the time.”