Gender Differences in Justice Perception Formation: Consideration of the Processing of Non-Simultaneously Presented Cues

Abstract

Previous research has examined the process through which employees use the cues present within their work environments to form justice perceptions, suggesting the potential for individual employee characteristics to influence this justice perception formation process. In two studies (an experimental study and a field study where longitudinal data were collected from employees in a new work environment), I investigated whether gender influenced how employees processed non-simultaneously presented justice cues when forming their overall justice perceptions. Drawing on the gender selectivity hypothesis and fairness heuristic/uncertainty management theories, I predicted that the justice cues employees encounter later (rather than earlier) would be processed more deliberately by women as compared to men (i.e., I expected justice cues presented later would more strongly predict the overall justice perceptions of women compared to men, and that women’s justice perceptions would change more over time than men’s). Study 1 experimental results showed no gender x (in)justice cue order effect on justice perceptions. Study 2 field results did not show that women’s justice perceptions varied more than men’s, nor did the first justice perception formed predict later justice perceptions more strongly for men compared to women. These (replicated) null effects suggest follow-up research is needed, which may require a re-examination of how gender and organizational justice have been positioned theoretically in the literature. Additionally, if further replicated, these attentional patterns, which seem gender invariant, hint at the practical importance of considering how justice is cued by organizational authorities, and how justice can be enacted in ways that reinforce the equitable and respectful treatment of employees.