Not all justices are equal: the unique effects of organizational justice on the behaviour and attitude of government workers in Ghana

Abstract

Drawing on social exchange and positive emotions theories, we examined the differential effects of organizational justice on work engagement and organizational commitment among 347 Ghanaian public-sector workers. We hypothesized that three different components of organizational justice (distributive, procedural and interactional) would have different effects on work engagement and organizational commitment. We used regression test to investigate these effects. Despite subtle differences, the results show that distributive and procedural justice relate positively to vigour, dedication and absorption. However, interactional justice was unrelated to any of the work engagement components. We further observed that while distributive, procedural and interactional justice related positively to affective commitment, no other type of organizational justice related to continuance and normative commitment. Overall, not all justices create the same effect on workplace behaviour. Implications and limitations are discussed. Points for practitioners • Distributive justice and procedural justice (but not interactional justice) stimulate the levels of vigour, dedication and absorption among Ghanaian public-sector workers and produce an engaged workforce. Thus, management should channel investment into the creation and implementation of administrative practices that promote the perception of fairness in the distribution of resources within organizations. • Organizational justice enhances affective commitment – the emotional connection to and identification with their organization – among public-sector workers in Ghana.

Performance appraisal justice and affective commitment: examining the moderating role of age and gender

“…Fairness in the organizational system leads to the high emotional connection of employees with the organization. Some contemporary researchers promulgated that perceived organizational justice assists in enhancing the AC of employees in the organizations (Kumasey et al , 2019). They stated that employees’ perception about the credibility and work procedures and fairness in the distribution of rewards and resources leads to the enhanced emotional attachment and they like to be identified by their organizations.…”

Organizational justice and organizational citizenship behavior: the mediating role of work engagement

“…Besides, studies have shown that the relation between the experience of OJ and the actions of the organizational participants relates to WE ( Bakker et al., 2007 ; Sharma and Yadav, 2017 ; Sharma and Kumra, 2020 ). Further, Kumasey et al. (2021) exposed that DJ and PJ were important organizational components and positively connected to WE.…”

“…Besides, the DJ played a vital role in shaping the WE in the healthcare sector in Turkey ( Özer et al., 2017 ). PJ is a major operational factor that influences the result distribution ( Willison et al., 2018 ) and has a positive impact on WE workers ( Kumasey et al., 2021 ; Özer et al., 2017 ), and is thus perceived to be a core component of a service company where there is a greater probability of work burn-out and turnover intention. In addition, based on the point of view of social exchange theory ( Blau, 1964 ), there is a positive correlation between PJ and WE in organizations ( Majumdar and Kumar, 2021 ).…”

Cultural perceptions of ethical leadership and its effect on intention to leave in the independent hotel industry

“…Although these four countries are all developed western countries with somewhat similar cultures (House et al , 1999), which might be expected to show similar attitudes, this study shows that the impact of procedural justice on job satisfaction varies in different contexts, which requires further investigation. However, according to Tang and Sarfield-Baldwin (1996), due to the fact that procedural justice is related to job satisfaction, high-level managers could positively influence their employees’ satisfaction by recognising their desires and needs, as well as by establishing appropriate mutual relationships and communications with them, thereby increasing employees’ job involvement, innovation and motivation (Kumasey et al , 2019).…”

“…When employees perceive both distributive and procedural justice in processes and events, they are more likely to hold a favourable opinion of the organisation and higher levels of job satisfaction (Körner et al , 2015; Lambert et al , 2019; Nadiri and Tanova, 2010). Conversely, when organisational behaviours and attitudes are not considered fair and appropriate by the employees, they are less likely to demonstrate positive and effective reciprocal behaviours for the good of the organisation (Jiang et al , 2017; Kumasey et al , 2019).…”