Extensions of Justice Theory: Justice Evaluations and Employees' Reactions in a Natural Setting

Abstract

Jasso argues that her formulation of justice theory has general applicability across a variety of rewards and outcomes related to the justice evaluations of these rewards. To assess this claim, we examine procedural justice and distributive justice evaluations of a number of qualitative rewards (status, security, opportunities for friendships, opportunities for self-actualization, and opportunities for altruism), using Jasso's conceptualization and operationalization. In a natural setting we test a series of hypotheses about the effects of these justice evaluations on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, intent to stay with an employer, and turnover. We find general support for the hypothesized additive effects of both procedural and distributive justice evaluations on all outcomes but turnover. In addition, the data are consistent with the hypothesis that the effect of procedural justice evaluations on these outcomes is mediated by distributive justice evaluations. Additional analysis showed, however, that the simpler size of the reward measure has essentially the same effect as the justice evaluation. We discussed these findings in terms of the compatibility of self-interest and justice arguments for explaining behavior.