A trickle-down model of organizational justice: Relating employees' and customers' perceptions of and reactions to fairness.

This study developed and tested a trickle-down model of organizational justice that hypothesized that employees' perceptions of fairness should affect their attitudes toward the organization, subsequently influencing their behaviors toward customers. In turn, customers should interpret these behaviors as signals of fair treatment, causing them to react positively to both the employee and the organization. The model was tested on a sample of 187 instructors and their students. The results revealed that instructors who perceived high distributive and procedural justice reported higher organizational commitment. In turn, their students reported higher levels of instructor effort, prosocial behaviors, and fairness, as well as more positive reactions to the instructor. Overall, the results imply that fair treatment of employees has important organizational consequences because of customers' attitudes and future intentions toward key service employees. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Organization structure as a moderator of the relationship between procedural justice, interactional justice, perceived organizational support, and supervisory trust.

Organizational justice researchers recognize the important role organization context plays in justice perceptions, yet few studies systematically examine contextual variables. This article examines how 1 aspect of context--organizational structure--affects the relationship between justice perceptions and 2 types of social exchange relationships, organizational and supervisory. The authors suggest that under different structural conditions, procedural and interactional justice will play differentially important roles in determining the quality of organizational social exchange (as evidenced by perceived organizational support [POS]) and supervisory social exchange (as evidenced by supervisory trust). In particular, the authors hypothesized that the relationship between procedural justice and POS would be stronger in mechanistic organizations and that the relationship between interactional justice and supervisory trust would be stronger in organic organizations. The authors' results support these hypotheses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Justice at the millennium: A meta-analytic review of 25 years of organizational justice research.

The field of organizational justice continues to he marked by several important research questions, including the size of relationships among justice dimensions, the relative importance of different justice criteria, and the unique effects of justice dimensions on key outcomes. To address such questions, the authors conducted a meta-analytic review of 183 justice studies. The results suggest that although different justice dimensions are moderately to highly related, they contribute incremental variance explained in fairness perceptions. The results also illustrate the overall and unique relationships among distributive, procedural, interpersonal, and informational justice and several organizational outcomes (e.g., job satisfaction, organizational commitment, evaluation of authority, organizational citizenship behavior, withdrawal, performance). These findings are reviewed in terms of their implications for future research on organizational justice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Empowering employees: The moderating role of perceived organisational climate and justice.

Previous research suggests that empowering managerial practises have small and variable effects on employees' behaviours. The objective of this study is to assess whether organisational climate and justice perceptions moderate the relationship between supervisor empowering managerial practises (SEMPs) and employees' behavioural empowerment. Self-report data were gathered from a sample of 358 employees from three service-sector organisations in a cross-sectional study. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that both perceptions of organisational climate and justice interact with SEMPs in the prediction of employees' behavioural empowerment. As expected, SEMPs were more positively related to behavioural empowerment when perceptions of organisational supportive climate and justice were higher. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Losing sleep over organizational injustice: Attenuating insomniac reactions to underpayment inequity with supervisory training in interactional justice.

Self-reports of insomnia were collected among 467 nurses working at 4 hospitals. At 2 of these hospitals, a change in pay policy resulted in reduced pay for all nurses, whereas nurses' pay was unchanged at the other 2 hospitals. Nursing supervisors at 1 hospital in each group received training in promoting interactional justice, whereas no training was provided at the other 2 hospitals. Reflecting the stressful nature of underpayment, insomnia was significantly greater among nurses whose pay was reduced than among those whose pay remained unchanged. However, the degree of insomnia was significantly lower among nurses whose supervisors were trained in interactional justice, both immediately after training and 6 months later. These findings demonstrate the buffering effects of interactionally fair treatment on reactions to underpayment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multicultural organizational consultation: A social justice perspective.

Multicultural organizational consultation (MOC) possesses a strong social justice component because it is directed toward removing barriers to equal access and opportunity in organizations. As such, it often challenges the power and privilege of organizational policies and practices that oppress marginalized groups and perpetuate disparities. Four important characteristics of MOC are discussed: (a) the need for a conceptual framework of multicultural organizational development, especially how standard operating procedures (programs, policies, and practices) may enhance or impede diversity initiatives; (b) confronting the sociopolitical systems of power and privilege inherent in organizations; (c) the consultant's ability to understand his or her own worldview in relation to other diverse worldviews related to race, gender, sexual orientation, and other sociodemographic dimensions; and (e) integrating roles and tasks in facilitating difficult dialogues on race, gender, and sexual orientation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of overall justice judgments in organizational justice research: A test of mediation.

Organizational justice research traditionally focuses on the unique predictability of different types of justice (distributive, procedural, and interactional) and the relative importance of these types of justice on outcome variables. Recently, researchers have suggested shifting from this focus on specific types of justice to a consideration of overall justice. The authors hypothesize that overall justice judgments mediate the relationship between specific justice facets and outcomes. They present 2 studies to test this hypothesis. Study 1 demonstrates that overall justice judgments mediate the relationship between specific justice judgments and employee attitudes. Study 2 demonstrates the mediating relationship holds for supervisor ratings of employee behavior. Implications for research on organizational justice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Making sense of diversity in the workplace: Organizational justice and language abstraction in employees' accounts of diversity-related incidents.

To discern patterns of employee sense-making about workplace diversity, the authors analyzed 751 natural language accounts of diversity incidents from 712 workers in one department of a large organization. Six generic incident types emerged: discrimination, representation, treatment by management, work relationships, respect between groups, and diversity climates. Consistent with hypotheses, incidents that respondents viewed as negative, accounts from women, and those involving members of respondents' in-groups were more likely to cite justice issues. Partially consistent with research on the linguistic intergroup bias, both negative and positive accounts involving out-group members and accounts from men were more likely to be expressed using abstract verb forms. The authors discuss future opportunities to integrate research on diversity, justice, and the linguistic category model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Why managers should care about fairness: The effects of aggregate justice perceptions on organizational outcomes.

This work examines the aggregation of justice perceptions to the departmental level and the business-unit level, the impact of these aggregate perceptions on business-unit-level outcomes, and the usefulness of the distinction between procedural and interpersonal justice at different levels of analysis. Latent variables analyses of individual-level and department-level data from 4,539 employees in 783 departments at 97 hotel properties showed that the 2 justice types exercise unique paths of impact on employees' organizational commitment and thus on turnover intentions and discretionary service behavior. Business-unit-level analyses further demonstrate paths of association between aggregate justice perceptions, aggregate commitment levels, and the business-unit-level outcomes of employee turnover rates and customer satisfaction ratings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

If you feel bad, it's unfair: A quantitative synthesis of affect and organizational justice perceptions.

Whereas research interest in both individual affect/temperament and organizational justice has grown substantially in recent years, affect's role in the perception of organizational justice has received scant attention. Here, the authors integrate these literatures and test bivariate relationships between state affect (e.g., moods), trait affect (e.g., affectivity), and organizational justice variables using meta-analytically aggregated effect sizes. Results indicated that state and trait positive and negative affect exhibit statistically significant relationships with perceptions of distributive, procedural, and interactional justice in the predicted directions, with mean population-level correlations ranging in absolute magnitude from Mρ? = .09 to Mρ? = .43. Correlations involving state affect generally were larger but not significantly different from those involving trait affect. Finally, the authors propose ideas for investigations at the primary-study level. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Consulting for diversity and social justice: Challenges and rewards.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 60(4) of Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research (see record 2008-17523-006). The author refers to "Paul Winn." The referenced author's last name was printed incorrectly. The correct spelling is Winum.] Consulting and training for cultural diversity is both challenging and rewarding. This article issues a call to face the challenges of diversity consulting and describes strategies and approaches for successful work. Using examples from the author's practice, the author calls on consultants to (1) get up to speed with knowledge about diversity and social justice, (2) avoid consultations that are too superficial, (3) balance content and process, (4) find ways to sustain themselves and their clients, and (5) work for the Common Good. A social justice frame is seen as a necessary adjunct to promoting equity and excellence in organizations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The justice motive in social behavior.

Reviews the book, The Justice Motive in Social Behavior, edited by Melvin J. Lerner and Sally C. Lerner (1981). This edited book is the result of a conference held at the University of Waterloo. Here (September 1978) an interdisciplinary group of experts sought answers to the question, "How can the human concern with justice provide opportunities for constructive responses to future social dilemmas which may involve scarcity of resources and rapid change?" The 20 chapters are directly or indirectly related to this question, and the book is extremely timely and thought-provoking. This is an important book and should be a welcome addition to anyone interested in the implications for justice in the not-too-distant scarcity-laden future. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of computer surveillance on perceptions of privacy and procedural justice.

Electronic workplace surveillance is raising concerns about privacy and fairness. Integrating research on electronic performance monitoring, procedural justice, and organizational privacy, the author proposes a framework for understanding reactions to technologies used to monitor and control employees. To test the framework's plausibility, temporary workers performed computer/Web-based tasks under varying levels of computer surveillance. Results indicated that monitoring job-relevant activities (relevance) and affording those who were monitored input into the process (participation) reduced invasion of privacy and enhanced procedural justice. Moreover, invasion of privacy fully mediated the effect of relevance and partially mediated the effect of participation on procedural justice. The findings are encouraging for integrating theory and research on procedural justice and organizational privacy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A closer look at the relationship between justice perceptions and union participation.

In this study, a series of nested models was tested to assess the extent to which the relationship between process-related justice and union participation is mediated by perceived union support and union commitment. Members of a steelworkers' local (N=615) participated in the study. Fit indices most strongly supported a fully mediated model. Unlike previous research, process-related justice was operationalized as 2 distinct variables: procedural and interactional justice. Interactional justice was found to have a substantially stronger relationship with support perceptions than procedural justice. Results also indicated union support accounted for a greater amount of unique variance in union commitment than perceived union instrumentality. The results are discussed in relation to trust theory and the generalization of organization science across different types of organizations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Critical incidents in counseling psychology professionals' and trainees' social justice orientation development.

Through a qualitative, critical incident research design, this study identified and defined critical incidents that cultivated a social justice orientation among counseling psychology doctoral students and professionals. Research questions included: (a) What incidents are critical in the development of a social justice orientation? (b) Of these incidents, which are most influential? (c) How do these incidents affect social justice orientation development? Thirty-six counseling psychology doctoral students and professionals, who demonstrated a commitment to social justice through scholarship and clinical practice, completed an online survey, which consisted of rank-order and open-ended items. Qualitative data were analyzed utilizing the constant comparative method. Analyses revealed five categories of critical incidents to which participants attributed their social justice orientation development. In addition, five themes were identified that categorized the ways in which critical incidents changed individuals. Analyses of rank-ordered items indicated that the categories of Exposure to Injustice and Influence of Significant Persons were most frequently ranked as the most influential critical incidents in the development of a social justice orientation. Implications of these results and future directions for education, training, and research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of transformational and change leadership on employees' commitment to a change: A multilevel study.

The effects of transformational leadership on the outcomes of specific change initiatives are not well understood. Conversely, organizational change studies have examined leader behaviors during specific change implementations yet have failed to link these to broader leadership theories. In this study, the authors investigate the relationship between transformational and change leadership and followers' commitment to a particular change initiative as a function of the personal impact of the changes. Transformational leadership was found to be more strongly related to followers' change commitment than change-specific leadership practices, especially when the change had significant personal impact. For leaders who were not viewed as transformational, good change-management practices were found to be associated with higher levels of change commitment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Early employer response to workplace injury: What injured workers perceive as fair and why these perceptions matter.

The authors examined whether early employer response to workplace injury affects injured workers' subsequent attitudes and mental health. At 1 month and 6 months postinjury, telephone surveys were conducted with 344 workers from Ontario, Canada, who had experienced a musculoskeletal lost-time workplace injury. One-month reports of initial supervisor reaction to the injury and the use of workplace-based return-to-work strategies (early contact with worker, ergonomic assessment, presence of designated coordinator, accommodation offer) were hypothesized to predict reports of fairness, affective commitment, and depressive symptoms measured at 6 months postinjury. Structural equation modeling supported a model wherein fairness perceptions fully mediated the relationship between early responses and injured workers' attitudes and mental health. Early contact and supervisor reactions were significant predictors of fairness perceptions. The implications for early employer response are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Justice as a dependent variable: Subordinate charisma as a predictor of interpersonal and informational justice perceptions.

Research in the organizational justice literature has shown that interpersonal and informational justice are significant predictors of subordinate attitudes and behaviors. However, scholars have neglected to explore whether certain subordinate characteristics might be associated with managers' adherence to interpersonal and informational justice rules. The current authors' study tested a model, inspired by approach-avoidance perspectives (e.g., Gray, 1990), in which manager ratings of subordinate charisma influenced subordinate ratings of interpersonal and informational justice through the mechanisms of positive and negative sentiments (i.e., emotions felt by the manager toward the subordinate). A field study of 181 employees of a large national insurance company revealed partial support for this model. Structural equation modeling revealed that subordinate charisma was related to interpersonal justice perceptions, a relationship that was fully mediated by positive and negative sentiments. However, subordinate charisma was not associated with informational justice perceptions. These findings signal the potential utility in examining subordinate-based predictors of justice variables. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counseling psychology trainees' social justice interest and commitment.

Scholars within the field of counseling psychology have for some time now articulated eloquent and compelling calls for attending to social justice in the social sciences. To date, counseling psychologists have been at the forefront of addressing social justice issues in research, practice, and professional development. The present study advances empirical perspectives on social justice by testing the external validity of M. J. Miller et al.'s (2009) social-cognitive model of social justice interest and commitment in a sample of 229 doctoral trainees in counseling psychology. Present findings support the ability of the model to explain, in part, counseling psychology trainees' social justice interest and commitment. In addition, the present study provides novel findings that demonstrate the direct and indirect ways in which program training environment and personal moral imperative relate to social justice interest and commitment. Study limitations, future directions for research, and implications for training are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relational correlates of interpersonal citizenship behavior: A social network perspective.

This study examines the role of social network ties in the performance and receipt of interpersonal citizenship behavior (ICB), one form of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). A field study involving 141 employees of a manufacturing firm provided evidence that social network ties are related to the performance and receipt of ICB. Results support hypothesized relationships, which are based on social exchange theory, suggesting strength of friendship is related to performance and receipt of ICB. Support was also found for impression management-based hypotheses suggesting that asymmetric influence and 3rd-party influence are related to the performance and receipt of ICB. These relationships were significant when controlling for job satisfaction, commitment, procedural justice, hierarchical level, demographic similarity, and job similarity. Implications and directions for future research are addressed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)