Distributive justice, job stress, and turnover intention: Cross-level effects of empowerment climate in work groups

Abstract

This paper, with its multilevel design including 90 work groups in South Korea, proposes and examines how distributive justice relates to job stress, and thus leading to turnover intention at the individual level, and how this relationship is affected by empowerment climate at the group level. The results of hierarchical linear modeling show that employees’ perception of distributive justice was negatively related to job stress. We also find that job stress partially mediated the influence of distributive justice on turnover intention. In addition, at the work group level, the empowerment climate decreased employees’ job stress, and the negative relationship between distributive justice and job stress at the individual level was moderated by the empowerment climate. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The Impact of Team Ability Disparity and Reward Structure on Performance

“…Our conclusions regarding individual performance are in line with the interpretation of inequality aversion theory (Fehr and Schmidt, ): Under a cooperative reward, if ability disparity is large, members with higher ability will perceive evaluation of their input and output to be unjust, they therefore will have little motivation to spend effort on their individual performance (Frick et al, ). Our results are also consistent with distributive justice theory according to which distributive justice affects team member emotions and actions, and thus influences individual performance (Choi et al, ). When ability disparity is large, a competitive reward structure that rewards individuals based on ability is seen as equitable and significantly increases individual performance.…”

“…In step 2, we entered all of the individual‐level control variables. Because the data were from an experiment which followed the principle of random distribution, and the team‐level variables (such as average ability and team size) which may have influenced the effects (Choi et al, ) were controlled by experimental manipulations, we did not choose any control variables at the team‐level. In step 3, we entered the main effects, ability disparity and reward structure.…”

“…Hence, the abilities of individuals influence their perception of reward structure fairness (Dematteo et al, ). More able members might feel that in light of their abilities they are treated inequitably or unjustly (Choi et al, ). Under a cooperative reward structure, higher ability members may perceive themselves as exploited by less able teammates (Dematteo et al, ).…”

A multilevel review of stressor research in teams

“…Haber () shows that team membership becomes stressful only in climates characterized by conflict and distrust. Likewise, a climate of empowerment within teams is beneficial, as it further attenuates the already negative effect that distributive justice has on team members' stress and ultimately reduces their turnover intentions (Choi, Moon, Nae, & Ko, ). This might partly be the case because individuals working in distressed team climates seem to be significantly more exhausted than those in eustressed team climates, and they tend to show significantly less vigor and dedication at work than members of teams with a more balanced team climate (Kozusznik et al, ).…”

Peran Kepuasan Kerja Dalam Memediasi Pengaruh Stres Kerja Dan Motivasi Kerja Terhadap Turnover Intention

“…Hasil dari penelitian serupa mengungkapkan bahwa stres kerja memiliki pengaruh signifikan dan positif pada turnover intention (Nasution, 2017). Hal serupa pun diungkapkan dalam penelitian yang dilaksanakan di Korea Selatan, yang mengungkapkan bahwa secara positif stres kerja berpengaruh terhadap turnover intention (Choi, Moon, Nae, & Ko, 2013). Berdasarkan pemaparan tersebut, hipotesis dapat dirumuskan seperti berikut.…”