Organizational Justice

The Three Faces of Justice

Research on the impact of justice in the workplace has centered around three distinct fairness types. Distributive justice refers to the fairness with which pay, promotions, perks, and other outcomes are allocated. Procedural justice emphasizes the process and procedures by which these outcome allocations are determined. Interactional justice involves whether leaders provide those around them with fair interpersonal treatment. Each represents an important dimension of employee fairness perceptions, and each may be tied to particular aspects of leadership. In the following sections, we provide a brief history and background, and summarize key antecedents and consequences, of each justice type.

Distributive Justice

In the 1950s, social psychologists proposed that individuals make judgments about situations and outcomes in relative rather than absolute terms. They do so by comparing their own situation and outcomes to the situations and outcomes of individuals around them. This theory of relative deprivation suggests that people may feel dissatisfied about an outcome even though in objective terms it may be favorable. Conversely, people may feel satisfied with an outcome even though it is objectively unfavorable. This theory was a precursor to a theory of distributive justice in that it proposed that individuals' comparisons with others are dependent on their understanding of what is right and wrong, what is fair, and what is “just.”

Today's understanding of distributive justice is rooted in the work of George Homans and J. Stacy Adams. Homans's conceptualization of distributive justice is grounded in a theory of social exchange. He noted that in the course of normal activities, individuals engage in two types of exchanges: those involving things of a social nature (e.g., favors, friendships), and those involving things of an economic nature (e.g., money, work). He explained that parties involved in such exchanges will perceive the exchanges to be fair as long as the rewards each receives are proportional to the cost each bears.

Adams extended Homans's conceptualization by introducing equity theory. He proposed that individuals' social behavior and attitudes are affected by beliefs that the allocation of costs and benefits within a particular group of individuals needs to be equitable. That is, the outcomes one receives should be proportional to contributions one makes. Under equity theory, a reward distribution is perceived to be fair to the extent that the ratio of one's contributions (e.g., hours of work and effort) to one's outcomes (e.g., pay or promotion) is equal to the same input–output ratio of a comparison other (e.g., a coworker). Adams explained that when inequity occurs, individuals will experience distress, a motivational state that prompts them to engage in actions to restore equity. Considerable research supports the predictions of equity theory that underpaid employees [Page 1125]will lower their performance, and overpaid employees will increase their performance. More generally, individuals react to perceived inequity by making behavioral or psychological changes in an effort to restore equity.

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