Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T11:01:00.073Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Organizational Justice: A Behavioral Science Concept with Critical Implications for Business Ethics and Stakeholder Theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2015

LaRue Tone Hosmer  and
Christian Kiewitz
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Organizational justice is a behavioral science concept that refers to the perception of fairness of the past treatment of the employees within an organization held by the employees of that organization. These subjective perceptions of fairness have been empirically shown to be related to 1) attitudinal changes in job satisfaction, organizational commitment and managerial trust beliefs; 2) behavioral changes in task performance activities and ancillary extra-task efforts to assist group members and improve group methods; 3) numerical changes in the quantity, quality and efficiency of divisional outputs; and—though this is far more tentative—4) eventual changes in the competitive advantage and financial performance of the full organization. The authors propose that these constructs can be applied to all stakeholders, rather than just to the current employees of the firm, and that objective determinations of fairness by the managers can be related to subjective perceptions of fairness by the stakeholders that will result in the sequential series of attitudinal, behavioral and numerical changes that will lead to performance improvements. In short, the authors propose a normative stakeholder theory of the firm, based upon ethical principles, that will have testable descriptive hypotheses derived from the behavioral constructs.

Type
Articles
Information
Business Ethics Quarterly , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , January 2005 , pp. 67 - 91
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Business Ethics 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, J. S. 1965. “Inequity in Social Exchange.” In Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, ed. Berkowitz, L., vol. 2. New York: Academic Press, 167–299.Google Scholar
Aristotle. 1954/312 BC. Nicomachean Ethics, trans. and ed. Ross, W. D.. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ball, G. A., Trevino, L. K., and Sims, H. P. Jr. 1994. “Just and Unjust Punishment: Influences on Subordinate Performance and Citizenship.” Academy of Management Journal 37: 299–323.Google Scholar
Barnard, C. I. 1938. The Functions of the Executive. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Berman, S. L., Wicks, A. C., Kotha, S., and Jones, T. M.. 1999. “Does Stakeholder Orientation Matter: The Relationships between Stakeholder Management Models and Firm Financial Performance.” Academy of Management Journal 42: 488–506.Google Scholar
Bies, R. J. 2001. “Interactional (In)justice: The Sacred and the Profane.” In Advances in Organizational Justice, ed. Greenberg, J. and Cropanzano, R.. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 89–118.Google Scholar
Bies, R. J., and Moag, J. S.. 1986. “Interactional Justice: Communication Criteria of Fairness.” In Research on Negotiation in Organizations, ed. Lewicki, R. J., Sheppard, B. H., and Bazerman, B. H., vol. 1, 43–55.Google Scholar
Bowen, D. E., Gilliland, S. W., and Folger, R.. 1999. “HRM and Service Fairness: How Being Fair with Employees Spills Over to Customers.” Organizational Dynamics 27: 7–21.Google Scholar
Brockner, J. 2002. “Making Sense of Procedural Fairness: How High Procedural Fairness Can Reduce or Heighten the Influence of Outcome Favorability.” Academy of Management Review 27: 58–76.Google Scholar
Brockner, J., Konovsky, M., Cooper-Schneider, R., Folger, R., Martin, C., and Bies, R.. 1994. “Interactive Effects of Procedural Justice and Outcome Negativity on Victims and Survivors of Job Loss.” Academy of Management Journal 37: 397–410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brockner, J., Tyler, T. R., and Cooper-Schneider, R.. 1992. “The Influence of Prior Commitment to an Institution: The Higher They Are, the Harder They Fall.” Administrative Science Quarterly 37: 241–62.Google Scholar
Clarkson, M. B. E. 1995. “A Stakeholder Framework for Analyzing and Evaluating Corporate Social Responsibility.” Academy of Management Review 20: 92–117.Google Scholar
Cohen-Charash, Y., and Spector, P. E.. 2001. “The Role of Justice in Organizations: A Meta Analysis.” Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 85: 278–321.Google Scholar
Colquitt, J. A., Conlon, D. E., Wesson, M. J., Porter, C. O. L. H., and Ng, K. Y.. 2001. “Justice at the Millennium: A Meta-Analytic Review of 25 Years of Organizational Justice Research.” Journal of Applied Psychology 86: 425–45.Google Scholar
Cowherd, D. M., and Levine, D. I.. 1992. “Product Quality and Pay Equity between Lower-Level Employees and Top Management: An Investigation of Distributive Justice Theory.” Administrative Science Quarterly 37: 302–20.Google Scholar
Cropanzano, R., and Greenberg, J.. 1997. “Progress in Organizational Justice: Tunneling Through the Maze.” In International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, vol. 12, ed. Cooper, C. L. and Robertson, L. T.. New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Donaldson, T., and Preston, L.. 1995. “The Stakeholder Theory of the Corporation: Concepts, Evidence, and Implications.” Academy of Management Review 20: 65–91.Google Scholar
Farley, J. U., and Lehman, D. R.. 1986. Meta-Analysis in Marketing: Generalization of Response Models. Lexington, Mass.: D. C. Heath and Company.Google Scholar
Folger, R., and Cropanzano, R.. 1998. Organizational Justice and Human Resource Management, Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Forscher, R. 1963. “Chaos in the Brickyard.” Science 142: 399. Quoted in Wilson, D. B., “Meta-Analyses in Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Treatment Research.” Addiction 95(11), supplement 3 (2000): 419–39.Google Scholar
Freeman, R. E. 1984. Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach. Boston: Pittman/Ballinger.Google Scholar
Freeman, R. E. 1999. “Divergent Stakeholder Theory.” Academy of Management Review 24:233–36.Google Scholar
Greenberg, J. 1990. “Organizational Justice: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.” Journal of Management 16: 399–432.Google Scholar
Greenberg, J., and Lind, E. A.. 2000. “The Pursuit of Organizational Justice: From Conceptualization to Implication to Application.” In Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Linking Theory with Practice, ed. Cooper, G. L. and Locke, E. A.. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.Google Scholar
Harrison, J. S., and Freeman, R. E.. 1999. “Stakeholders, Social Responsibility, and Performance: Empirical Evidence and Theoretical Perspectives.” Academy of Management Journal 42: 479–85.Google Scholar
Hartman, S. J., Yrle, A. C., and Galle, W. P. Jr. 1999. “Examining Equity in a University Setting.” Journal of Business Ethics 20: 337–51.Google Scholar
Hendrix, W., Robbins, T., Miller, J., and Summers, T.. 1998. “Effects of Procedural and Distributive Justice on Factors Predictive of Turnover.” Journal of Social Behavior and Personality 13: 611–33.Google Scholar
Hobbes, T. 1986/1651. Leviathan. New York: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Homans, G. C. 1961. Social Behavior: Its Elementary Forms. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World.Google Scholar
Hosmer, L. T. 1994. Moral Leadership in Management. Homewood, Ill.: Richard D. Irwin.Google Scholar
Hosmer, L. T. 1995. “Trust: The Connecting Link between Organizational Theory and Philosophical Ethics.” Academy of Management Review 20: 379–403.Google Scholar
Jones, T. M. 1995. “Instrumental Stakeholder Theory: A Synthesis of Ethics and Economics.” Academy of Management Review 20, 404–37.Google Scholar
Jones, T. M., and Wicks, A. C.. 1999a. “Convergent Stakeholder Theory.” Academy of Management Review 24: 206–24.Google Scholar
Jones, T. M., and Wicks, A. C.. 1999b. “Letter to AMR Regarding Convergent Stakeholder Theory.” Academy of Management Review 24: 621–22.Google Scholar
Judge, T. A., Thoresen, C. J., Bono, J. E., and Patton, G. K.. 2001. “The Job Satisfaction–Job Performance Relationship: A Qualitative and Quantitative Review.” Psychological Bulletin 127: 376–407.Google Scholar
Kant, I. 1998/1785. Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals, trans. and ed. Gregory, Mary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kim, W. C., and Mauborgne, R.. 1998. “Procedural Justice, Strategic Decision Making and the Knowledge Economy.” Strategic Management Journal 19: 323–38.Google Scholar
Kohlberg, L. 1976. “Moral Stages and Moralization: The Cognitive-Developmental Approach.” In Moral Development and Behavior, ed. Likona, T.. New York: Holt, Reinhart & Winston, 31–53.Google Scholar
Konovsky, M. A. 2000. “Understanding Procedural Justice and Its Impact on Business Organizations.” Journal of Management 26: 489–511.Google Scholar
Konovsky, M. A., and Cropanzano, R.. 1991. “Perceived Fairness of Employee Drug Testing as a Predictor of Employee Attitudes and Job Performance.” Journal of Applied Psychology 76: 698–707.Google Scholar
Koys, D. J. 2001. “The Effects of Employee Satisfaction, Organizational Citizenship Behavior and Turnover on Organizational Effectiveness.” Personnel Psychology 54: 101–14.Google Scholar
Landy, F. J. 1989. Psychology of Work Behavior. Pacific Grove, Calif.: Brooks/Cole Press.Google Scholar
LaPine, J. A., Erez, A., and Johnson, D. E.. 2002. “The Nature and Dimensionality of Organizational Citizenship Behavior: A Critical Review and Meta-Analysis.” Journal of Applied Psychology 87: 52–65.Google Scholar
Leventhal, G. 1980. “What Should Be Done with Equity Theory?” In Social Exchange; Advances in Theory and Research, ed. Gergen, K. J., Greenberg, M. S., and Willis, R. H.. New York: Plenum, 83–96.Google Scholar
Locke, J. 1952/1690. The Second Treatise on Government. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.Google Scholar
Margolis, J. D., and Walsh, J. P.. 2001. People and Profits: The Search for a Link Between a Company’s Social and Financial Performance. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
McWilliams, A., and Siegel, D.. 2001. “Corporate Social Responsibility: A Theory of the Firm Perspective.” Academy of Management Review 20: 117–27.Google Scholar
Mitchell, R., Agle, B., and Wood, D.. 1997. “Toward a Theory of Stakeholder Identification and Salience: Defining the Principle of Who and What Really Counts.” Academy of Management Review 22: 853–58.Google Scholar
Moorman, R. H. 1991. “Relationship between Organizational Justice and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors: Do Fairness Perceptions Influence Employee Citizenship?” Journal of Applied Psychology 76: 845–56.Google Scholar
Moorman, R. H., Blakely, G. L., and Niehoff, B. P.. 1998. “Does Perceived Organizational Support Mediate the Relationship Between Procedural Justice and Organizational Citizenship Behavior?” Academy of Management Journal 43: 881–89.Google Scholar
Mullen, R., and Rosenthal, R.. 1985. BASIC Meta-Analysis: Procedures and Programs. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Nozick, R. 1974. Anarchy, State, and Utopia. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Organ, D. W. 1988. Organizational Citizenship Behavior: The Good Soldier Syndrome. Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Pfeffer, J., and Langton, N.. 1993. “The Effect of Wage Dispersion on Satisfaction, Productivity and Working Collaboratively: Evidence from College and University Faculty.” Administrative Science Quarterly 38: 382–407.Google Scholar
Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Paine, J. B., and Bachrach, D. G.. 2002. “Organizational Citizenship Behaviors: A Critical Review of the Theoretical and Empirical Literature and Suggestions for Future Research.” Journal of Management 26: 513–63.Google Scholar
Preston, L. E., and O’Bannon, D. P.. 1997. “The Corporate Social-Financial Performance Relationship.” Business and Society 36: 419–29.Google Scholar
Rawls, J. 1971. A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Robinson, S. L. and Bennett, R. J.. 1995. “A Typology of Deviant Workplace Behaviors: A Multidimensional Scaling Study.” Academy of Management Journal 38: 555–72.Google Scholar
Rothlisberger, F. J., and Dickson, W. T.. 1939. Management and the Worker: An Account of a Research Program Conducted by the Western Electric Company at the Hawthorne Works, Chicago. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Rotundo, M., and Sackett, P. R.. 2002. “The Relative Importance of Task, Citizenship, and Counterproductive Performance to Global Ratings of Job Performance: A Policy Capturing Approach.” Journal of Applied Psychology 87: 66–80.Google Scholar
Rousseau, D. 2001. “Schema, Promise and Mutuality: The Building Blocks of the Psychological Contract.” Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology 74: 511–41.Google Scholar
Rousseau, D., and Parks, J. McLean. 1992. “The Contracts of Individuals and Organizations.” Research in Organizational Behavior 15: 1–43.Google Scholar
Sen, A. 1987. On Ethics and Economics, Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Sen, A. 1993. “Does Business Ethics Make Economic Sense?” Business Ethics Quarterly 3: 45–54.Google Scholar
Sheppard, B. H., and Lewicki, R. J.. 1987. “Toward General Principles of Managerial Fairness.” Social Justice Research 1: 161–76.Google Scholar
Solomon, R. C. 1999. A Better Way to Think About Business: How Personal Integrity Leads to Corporate Success. New York: Oxford University PressGoogle Scholar
Thibault, J., and Walker, L.. 1975. Procedural Justice: A Psychological Analysis. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Trevino, L. K., and Weaver, G. R.. 1999a. “Stakeholder Research Tradition: Convergent Theorists, Not Theory.” Academy of Management Review 24: 222–27.Google Scholar
Trevino, L. K., and Weaver, G. R.. 1999b. “Trevino and Weaver’s Reply to Jones.” Academy of Management Review 24: 623–24.Google Scholar
Waddock, S. A., and Graves, S. B.. 1997. “The Corporate Social Performance to Financial Performance Link.” Strategic Management Journal 18: 303–19.Google Scholar