Regular Article
The Role of Justice in Organizations: A Meta-Analysis

https://doi.org/10.1006/obhd.2001.2958Get rights and content

Abstract

The correlates of distributive, procedural, and interactional justice were examined using 190 studies samples, totaling 64,757 participants. We found the distinction between the three justice types to be merited. While organizational practices and outcomes were related to the three justice types, demographic characteristics of the perceiver were, in large part, unrelated to perceived justice. Job performance and counterproductive work behaviors, considered to be outcomes of perceived justice, were mainly related to procedural justice, whereas organizational citizenship behavior was similarly predicted by distributive and procedural justice. Most satisfaction measures were similarly related to all justice types. Although organizational commitment and trust were mainly related to procedural justice, they were also substantially related to the other types of justice. Findings from laboratory and field studies are not always in agreement. Future research agendas are discussed.

References (218)

  • J. Adams-Roy et al.

    Predicting the decision to confront or report sexual harassment

    Journal of Organizational Behavior

    (1998)
  • S. Alexander et al.

    The role of procedural and distributive justice in organizational behavior

    Social Justice Research

    (1987)
  • *f3*References marked with an asterisk indicate studies included in the meta-analysis., Alge, B. J. (, 1999, August, ),...
  • M.L. Ambrose et al.

    Influence of social comparisons on perceptions of organizational fairness

    Journal of Applied Psychology

    (1991)
  • M.L. Ambrose et al.

    The influence of social comparisons on perceptions of procedural fairness

    Journal of Business and Psychology

    (1989)
  • *, Andrews, M. C, &, Kacmar, M. K. (in press), Discriminating among organizational politics, justice, and support,...
  • K. Aquino et al.

    Integrating justice constructs into the turnover process: A test of a referent cognitions model

    Academy of Management Journal

    (1997)
  • K. Aquino et al.

    Justice constructs, negative affectivity, and employee deviance: A proposed model and empirical test

    Journal of Organizational Behavior

    (1999)
  • M. Armstrong-Stassen

    Production workers' reactions to a plant closing: The role of transfer, stress, and support

    Anxiety, Stress and Coping: An International Journal

    (1993)
  • M. Armstrong-Stassen

    Why managers should pay greater attention to the reasons they give for a workforce reduction

    Research and Practice in Human Resource Management

    (1993)
  • M. Armstrong-Stassen

    The effect of gender and organizational level on how survivors appraise and cope with organizational downsizing

    Journal of Applied Behavioral Science

    (1998)
  • G.A. Ball et al.

    Justice and organizational punishment: Attitudinal outcomes of disciplinary events

    Social Justice Research

    (1993)
  • E. Barrett-Howard et al.

    Procedural justice as a criterion in allocation decisions

    Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

    (1986)
  • T.N. Bauer

    Perceived mentoring fairness: Relationships with gender, mentoring type, mentoring experience, and mentoring needs

    Sex Roles

    (1999)
  • *, Bauer, T. N, Truxillo, D. M, Sanchez, R. J, Craig, J. M, Terrara, P, &, Campion, M. A. (, 1998, ), Applicant...
  • R.J. Bies

    Beyond “voice”: The influence of decision-maker justification and sincerity on procedural fairness judgments

    Representative Research in Social Psychology

    (1987)
  • R.J. Bies et al.

    Interactional justice: Communication criteria of fairness

  • R.J. Bies et al.

    Interactional fairness judgments: The influence of causal accounts

    Social Justice Research

    (1987)
  • R.J. Bies et al.

    Voice and justification: Their influence on procedural fairness judgments

    Academy of Management Journal

    (1988)
  • *, Brockner, J. (, 1995, ), Towards an understanding of the interactive relationship between outcomes and procedures:...
  • J. Brockner et al.

    The moderating impact of sex on the equity-satisfaction relationship: A field study

    Journal of Applied Psychology

    (1986)
  • J. Brockner et al.

    Interactive effects of procedural justice and outcome negativity on victims and survivors of job loss

    Academy of Management Journal

    (1994)
  • J. Brockner et al.

    When trust matters: The moderating effect of outcome favorability

    Administrative Science Quarterly

    (1997)
  • J. Brockner et al.

    An integrative framework for explaining reactions to decisions: Interactive effects of outcomes and procedures

    Psychological Bulletin

    (1996)
  • J. Brockner et al.

    Interactive effect of job content and context on the reactions of layoff survivors

    Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

    (1993)
  • *, Byrne, Z. S, &, Cropanzano, R. (, 1999, ), Understanding procedural and interactional justice: A multi-foci approach...
  • D.F. Cellar et al.

    Effects of type of decision and organizational outcome on observers' evaluations of the context for decision

    Psychological Reports

    (1993)
  • A.T. Cobb et al.

    The effects of leader fairness and pay outcomes on superior/subordinate relations

    Journal of Applied Social Psychology

    (1996)
  • Cohen-Charash, Y. (, 1997, April, ), Perceived fairness of referral methods: The effect of justice attitudes. Paper...
  • Colquitt, J. A. (, 1999, August, ), On the dimensionality of organizational justice: A construct validation of a...
  • Colquitt, J. A, Conlon, D. E, Wesson, M. J, Porter, C. O. L. H, &, Ng, K. Y. (in press), Justice at the millennium: A...
  • D.E. Conlon

    Some tests of the self-interest and group-value models of procedural justice: Evidence from an organizational appeal procedure

    Academy of Management Journal

    (1993)
  • D.E. Conlon et al.

    Influence of speed of third-party intervention and outcome on negotiator and constituent fairness judgments

    Academy of Management Journal

    (1990)
  • R. Cropanzano et al.

    Workplace justice and the dilemma of organizational citizenship

  • R. Cropanzano et al.

    Procedural justice and worker motivation

  • R. Cropanzano et al.

    Progress in organizational justice: Tunneling through the maze

  • *, Cropanzano, R, &, Prehar, C. A. (, 1999, April, ), Using social exchange theory to distinguish procedural from...
  • R. Cropanzano et al.

    Injustice and work behavior: A historical review

  • F. Crosby

    A model of egoistical relative deprivation

    Psychological Review

    (1976)
  • F. Crosby

    The denial of personal discrimination

    American Behavioral Scientist

    (1984)
  • Cited by (2329)

    View all citing articles on Scopus

    We thank Dr. Dan Ilgen and three anonymous reviewers for their helpful and constructive comments.

    f2

    Address correspondence and reprint requests to Yochi Cohen-Charash, Institute of Industrial Relations, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720. E-mail: [email protected].

    f3

    *References marked with an asterisk indicate studies included in the meta-analysis.

    View full text