Organisational justice perceptions and job outcomes : examining unfairness at the workplace

Abstract

The aim of this qualitative study is to explore unfairness at the workplace by analysing how organisational justice perceptions are formed and interpreted, and how these in turn may influence the behaviours of employees perceiving unfairness. The interpretations of justice perceptions are explored using three dimensions of organisational justice termed distributive, procedural and interactional justice (Adams, 1965; Leventhal, 1980; Bies & Moag, 1986). The relevance of the dimensional approach is critically analysed by a comparison with the overall justice approach.

Eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with four male and four female Maltese informants who work in different private organisations in Malta. The data collected was analysed using the Thematic Analysis approach (Braun & Clarke, 2006).

The findings reveal gender differences in the formation of justice perceptions. Male employees tend to form justice perceptions by observing the work environment while female employees tend to form justice perceptions when a perceived unfair event occurs. There are no major gender differences in the interpretation of justice perceptions since both male and female employees are inclined to interpret justice perceptions through the procedural justice dimension. The findings indicate that perceived unfairness leads to demotivation, stress, turnover intentions, counterproductive work behaviours and psychological contract breach. This study suggests that employees leave or plan to leave the company which they perceive as unfair. The studied female employees who are primary care givers do not want to act upon their turnover intentions as they believe that the company offers other conditions which help them fulfil their personal commitments.

The findings suggest that organisations are losing valuable talent due to perceived unfairness. Therefore it is recommended that fairness should be included as an integral part of the core company values. Managers should be made more aware of their biases and their consequences. Besides, companies should introduce whistle-blower policies through which employees may report perceived unfair behaviour anonymously.