The impact of Perceived Justice on Students’ Negative Emotional Responses during Service Recovery

Steven Kayambazinthu Msosa

doi:10.5430/ijhe.v9n5p230

Abstract

This study sought to evaluate the impact of perceived justice on students’ negative emotional responses during service recovery. Quantitative, descriptive multi-variate regression analysis and a cross-sectional study were undertaken using a judgmental sample of 430 students drawn from three public Higher Education Institutions in South Africa. The results of this study showed that all the dimensions of justice, viz. procedural, distributive and interactional justice, have a negative and significant impact on negative emotions. The findings of this study could assist Higher Education institutional managers to interrogate the fairness of the processes used in Higher Education Institutions to address student grievances because they have a negative and significant impact on students’ negative emotions.

Highlights

In Africa, the demand for free Higher Education (HE) and other social services such as health and basic education has been a subject of debate since the 1960s
The descriptive statistics summary for the various dimensions of justice and negative emotion is presented in Table 3 below
The findings showed that Interactional justice has a negative and significant impact on negative emotions

Summary

Introduction

In Africa, the demand for free Higher Education (HE) and other social services such as health and basic education has been a subject of debate since the 1960s. As a matter of fact, the cost of Higher Education in South Africa has been a major challenge. Students’ concerns about poor service; the slow pace of transformation; and the alienation of students from disadvantaged backgrounds in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have been characterized by protests, strikes and violence (Rapatsa, 2017). The Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Blade Nzimande, noted that “It cannot be accepted from us as a government that student protests are resulting in violence and the destruction of universities’ property that belongs to the public of South Africa and future generations to come. We have been worried about a particular fringe within students who have captured and diverted genuine students' demands for their own ends, using violence and damaging property” (Ministry of Higher Education and Training, 2016: 1)

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Conclusion