Both organizational justice and behavioural ethics are concerned with questions of ‘right and wrong’ in the context of work organizations. Until recently they have developed largely independently of each other, choosing to focus on subtly different concerns, constructs and research questions. The last few years have, however, witnessed a significant growth in theoretical and empirical research integrating these closely related academic specialities. We review the organizational justice literature, illustrating the impact of behavioural ethics research on important fairness questions. We argue that organizational justice research is focused on four reoccurring issues: (i) why justice at work matters to individuals; (ii) how justice judgements are formed; (iii) the consequences of injustice; and (iv) the factors antecedent to justice perceptions. Current and future justice research has begun and will continue borrowing from the behavioural ethics literature in answering these questions.
AdamsJS (1965) Inequity in social exchange. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology2: 267–299.
2.
AmbroseML (2002) Contemporary justice research: A new look at familiar questions. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes89(1): 803–812.
3.
AndrewsMCKacmarKM (2001) Discriminating among organizational politics, justice, and support. Journal of Organizational Behavior22(4): 347–366.
4.
AppiahKA (2008) Experiments in Ethics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
5.
BarlingJDupréKEKellowayEK (2009) Predicting workplace aggression and violence. Annual Review of Psychology60: 671–692.
6.
BarskyAKaplanSA (2007) If you feel bad, it’s unfair: A quantitative synthesis of affect and organizational justice perceptions. Journal of Applied Psychology92(1): 286–295.
7.
BarskyAKaplanSABealDJ (2011) Just feelings? The role of affect in the formation of organizational justice judgments. Journal of Management37(1): 248–279.
8.
BazermanMHTenbrunselAE (2012) Blind Spots: Why We Fail to Do What’s Right and What to Do about It. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
9.
BiesRJ (1987) The predicament of injustice: The management of moral outrage. In: CummingsLStawB (eds) Research in Organizational Behavior, Vol. 9. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 289–319.
10.
BiesRJTrippTM (2001) A passion for justice: The rationality and morality of revenge. In: CropanzanoR (ed.) Justice in the Workplace: From Theory to Practice, Vol. 2. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 197–208.
11.
BiesRJTrippTM (2004) The study of revenge in the workplace: Conceptual, ideological, and empirical issues. In: FoxSSpectorP (eds) Counterproductive Workplace Behavior: Investigations of Actors and Targets. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 65–81.
12.
BiesRJTrippTM (2012) Negotiating the peace in the face of modern distrust: Dealing with anger and revenge in the 21st century workplace. In: GoldmanBMShapiroDL (eds) Negotiations in the 21st Century Workplace: New Challenges and New Solutions. New York: Taylor & Francis, 181–210.
13.
BlackburnS (2001) Being Good: A Short Introduction to Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
14.
BobocelDRMcClineRLFolgerR (1997) Letting them down gently: Conceptual advances in explaining controversial organizational policies. In: CooperCLRousseauDM (eds) Trends in Organizational Behaviour, Vol. 4. New York: Wiley, 73–88.
15.
BrewerMB (1991) The social self: On being the same and different at the same time. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin17(5): 475–482.
16.
BrocknerJSiegelP (1996) Understanding the interaction between procedural and distributive justice: The role of trust. In: KramerRTylerT (eds) Trust in Organizations: The Frontiers of Theory and Research. London: SAGE, 390–413.
17.
BrocknerJAckermanGGreenbergJGelfandMJFrancescoAMChenZXLeungKBierbrauerGGomexCKirkmanBLShapiroD (2001) Culture and procedural justice: The influence of power distance on reactions to voice. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology37(4): 300–315.
18.
CarlsmithKMDarleyJM (2008) Psychological aspects of retributive justice. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology40: 193–236.
19.
Cohen-CharashYSpectorP (2001) The role of justice in organizations: A meta-analysis. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes86(2): 278–321.
20.
CollierJEstebanR (2007) Corporate social responsibility and employee commitment. Business Ethics: A European Review16(1): 19–33.
21.
ColquittJA (2001) On the dimensionality of organizational justice: A construct validation of a measure. Journal of Applied Psychology86(3): 386–400.
22.
ColquittJAConlonDEWessonMJPorterCONgKY (2001) Justice at the millennium: A meta-analytic review of 25 years of organizational justice research. Journal of Applied Psychology86(3): 425–445.
23.
ColquittJAScottBAJudgeTAShawJC (2006) Justice and personality: Using integrative theories to derive moderators of justice effects. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes100(1): 110–127.
24.
ColquittJAZapata-PhelanCPRobersonQM (2005) Justice in teams: A review of fairness effects in collective contexts. In: MartocchioJJ (ed.) Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management, Vol. 24. Amsterdam, NL: Elsevier, 53–94.
25.
ConnollyTHardmanD (2009) ‘Fools rush in’: A JDM perspective on the role of emotions in decisions, moral and otherwise. In: BartelsDMBaumanCWSkitkaLJMedinLD (eds) The Psychology of Learning and Motivation, Vol. 50. Burlington, VT: Academic Press, 275–306.
26.
CrawshawJRVan DickRBrodbeckFC (2012) Opportunity, fair process and relationship value: Career development as a driver of proactive work behavior. Human Resource Management Journal22(1): 4–20.
27.
CropanzanoRByrneZSBobocelDRRuppDE (2001) Moral virtues, fairness heuristics, social entities, and other denizens of organizational justice. Journal of Vocational Behavior58(2): 164–209.
28.
CropanzanoRChrobot–MasonDRuppDEPreharCA (2004) Accountability for corporate injustice. Human Resource Management Review14(1): 107–133.
29.
CropanzanoRGoldmanBFolgerR (2003) Deontic justice: The role of moral principles in workplace fairness. Journal of Organizational Behavior24(8): 1019–1024.
30.
CropanzanoRGreenbergJ (1997) Progress in organizational justice: Tunnelling through the maze. In: CooperCRobertsonI (eds) International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 12. Chichester: Wiley & Sons Ltd, 317–372.
31.
CropanzanoRMolinerC (2013) Hazards of justice: Egocentric bias, moral judgments, and revenge-seeking. In: EliasSM (ed.) Deviant and Criminal Behavior in the Workplace. New York: New York University Press, 155–177.
32.
CropanzanoRSteinJH (2009) Organizational justice and behavioral ethics: Promises and prospects. Business Ethics Quarterly19(2): 193–233.
33.
CropanzanoRSteinJHNadisicT (2011) Social Justice and the Experience of Human Emotion. New York: Taylor and Francis.
34.
De CremerD (2005) Procedural and distributive justice effects moderated by organizational identification. Journal of Managerial Psychology20(1): 4–13.
35.
EhrhartMG (2004) Leadership and procedural justice climate as antecedents of unit-level organizational citizenship behavior. Personnel Psychology57(1): 61–94.
36.
ElovainioMKivimäkiMEcclesMSinervoT (2002) Team climate and procedural justice and predictors of occupational strain. Journal of Applied Social Psychology32(2): 359–374.
37.
ErdoganBLidenRC (2006) Collectivism as a moderator of responses to organizational justice: Implications for leader-member exchange and ingratiation. Journal of Organizational Behavior27(1): 1–17.
38.
FiskeAP (1991) Structures of Social Life: The Four Elementary Forms of Human Relations. New York: Free Press.
39.
FiskeAP (1992) The four elementary forms of sociality: Framework for a unified theory of social relations. Psychological Review99(4): 689–723.
40.
FolgerR (1998) Fairness as a moral virtue. In: SchminkeM (ed.) Managerial Ethics: Morally Managing People and Processes. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 13–34.
41.
FolgerRCropanzanoR (1998) Organizational Justice and Human Resource Management. London: SAGE.
42.
FolgerRCropanzanoR (2001) Fairness theory. In: GreenbergJCropanzanoR (eds) Advances in Organizational Justice. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1–53.
43.
FolgerRCropanzanoRGoldmanB (2005) What is the relationship between fairness and morality? In: GreenbergJColquittJ (eds) Handbook of Organizational Justice. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 215–245.
44.
FolgerRGanegodaDBRiceDBTaylorRWoDXH (2013) Bounded autonomy and behavioral ethics: Deonance and reactance as competing motives. Human Relations66(7).
45.
GillilandSWGrothMBakerRC IVDewAFPollyLMLangdonJC (2001) Improving applicants’ reactions to rejection letters: An application of fairness theory. Personnel Psychology54(3): 669–703.
46.
GoldmanBMSlaughterJESchmitMJWileyJWBrooksSM (2008) Perceptions of discrimination: A multiple needs model perspective. Journal of Management34(5): 952–977.
47.
GoldmanBMThatcherSMB (2002) A social information processing view of organizational justice. In: GillilandSWSteinerDDSkarlickiDP (eds) Research in Social Issues in Management. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing, 103–130.
48.
GreenbaumRLBardes MawritzMMayerDMPriesemuthM (2013) To act out, to withdraw, or to constructively resist? Employee reactions to supervisor abuse of customers and the moderating role of employee moral identity. Human Relations66(7).
49.
GreenbergJ (2001) Setting the justice agenda: Seven unanswered questions about ‘what, why, and how’. Journal of Vocational Behavior58(2): 210–219.
50.
GreenbergJ (2002) Who stole the money, and when? Individual and situational determinants of employee theft. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes89(1): 985–1003.
51.
HaidtJ (2012) The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion. New York: Pantheon Books.
52.
HoltzBCHaroldCM (2013) Interpersonal justice and deviance: The moderating effects of interpersonal justice values and justice orientation. Journal of Management39(2): 339–365.
53.
HomansGC (1961) Social Behaviour: Its Elementary Forms. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc.
54.
HoogervorstNDe CremerDvan DijkeM (2013) When do leaders grant voice? The role of followers’ control and belongingness needs in leaders’ enactment of fair procedures. Human Relations66(7).
55.
HuiMKAuKZhaoX (2007) Interactional justice and the fair process effect: The role of outcome uncertainty. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology43(2): 210–220.
56.
JonesDA (2009) Getting even with one’s supervisor and one’s organization: Relationships among types of injustice, desires for revenge, and counterproductive work behaviors. Journal of Organizational Behavior30(4): 525–542.
57.
JonesDAMartensML (2009) The mediating role of overall fairness and the moderating role of trust certainty in justice-criteria relationships: The formation and use of fairness heuristics in the workplace. Journal of Organizational Behavior30(8): 1025–1051.
58.
KahnAKQuratulainSCrawshawJR (2013) The mediating role of discrete emotions in the relationship between injustice and counterproductive work behaviors: A study in Pakistan. Journal of Business and Psychology28(1): 49–61.
59.
KohlbergL (1969) Stage and sequence: The cognitive developmental approach to socialization. In: GoslinDA (ed.) Handbook of Socialization Theory. Chicago, IL: Rand McNally, 347–480.
60.
LiACropanzanoR (2009a) Fairness at the group level: Interunit and intraunit justice climate. Journal of Management35(3): 564–599.
61.
LiACropanzanoR (2009b) Do East Asians respond more/less strongly to organizational justice than North Americans?Journal of Management Studies46(5): 787–805.
62.
LindEA (1992) Procedural justice and procedural preferences: Evidence for a fairness heuristic. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Association of Conflict Management, Minneapolis, MN.
63.
LindEA (1995) Justice and authority relations in organizations. In: CropanzanoRKacmarMK (eds) Organizational Politics, Justice, and Support: Managing the Social Climate of the Workplace. Westport, CT: Quorum Books, 83–96.
64.
LindEA (2001) Fairness heuristics theory: Justice judgments as pivotal cognitions in organizational relations. In: GreenbergJCropanzanoR (eds) Advances in Organizational Justice. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 56–88.
65.
LindEATylerTR (1988) The Social Psychology of Procedural Justice. New York: Plenum Press.
66.
McColl-KennedyJRSparksBA (2003) Application of fairness theory to service failures and series recovery. Journal of Service Research5(3): 251–266.
67.
MartinsonBCAndersonMSCrainALDe VriesR (2006) Scientists’ perceptions of organizational justice and self-reported misbehaviors. Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics1(1): 51–66.
68.
MayerDMBardesMPiccoloRF (2008) Do servant-leaders help satisfy follower needs? An organizational justice perspective. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology17(2): 180–197.
69.
MolinerCMartínez-TurVPeiróJMRamosJCropanzanoR (2013) Perceived reciprocity and well-being at work in non-professional employees: Fairness or self-interest?Stress and Health29(1): 31–39.
70.
MyyryLHelkamaK (2002) Moral reasoning and the use of procedural justice rules in hypothetical and real-life dilemmas. Social Justice Research15(4): 373–391.
71.
NeubertMJCarlsonDSKacmarKMRobertsJAChonkoLB (2009) The virtuous influence of ethical leadership behavior: Evidence from the field. Journal of Business Ethics90(2): 157–170.
72.
O’ReillyJAquinoK (2011) A model of third parties’ morally motivated responses to mistreatment in organizations. Academy of Management Review36(3): 526–543.
73.
PatientDLSkarlickiDP (2005) Why managers don’t always do the right thing when delivering bad news. In: GillilandSWSteinerDDSkarlickiDP (eds) Research in Social Issues in Management. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing, 149–178.
74.
PatientDLSkarlickiDP (2010) Increasing interpersonal and informational justice when communicating negative news: The role of the manager’s empathic concern and moral development. Journal of Management36(2): 555–578.
75.
RebJGoldmanBMKrayLJCropanzanoR (2006) Different wrongs, different remedies? Reactions to organizational remedies after procedural and interactional injustice. Personnel Psychology59(1): 31–64.
76.
ResickCJHargisMBShaoPDustSB (2013) Ethical leadership, moral equity judgments, and discretionary workplace behavior. Human Relations66(7).
77.
RestJR (1986) Moral Development: Advances in Research and Theory. New York: Praeger.
78.
RuppDEBellCM (2010) Extending the deontic model of justice: Moral self-regulation in third-party responses to injustice. Business Ethics Quarterly20(1): 89–106.
79.
RuppDEWilliamsCAAguileraRV (2010) Increasing corporate social responsibility through stakeholder value internalization (and the catalyzing effect of new governance): An application of organizational justice, self-determination, and social influence theories. In: SchminkeM (ed.) Managerial Ethics: The Psychology of Morality. New York: Routledge/Psychology Press, 69–88.
80.
SandelMJ (2009) Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.
81.
SanfeyAGRillingJKAronsonJANystromLECohenJD (2003) The neural basis of economic decision-making in the ultimatum game. Science300(5626): 1755–1758.
82.
SchminkeMAmbroseMLNoelTW (1997) The effects of ethical frameworks on perceptions of organizational justice. Academy of Management Journal40(5): 1190–1207.
83.
SchminkeMCropanzanoRRuppDE (2002) Organization structure and fairness perceptions: The moderating effects of organizational level. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes89(1): 881–905.
84.
SearleR (2003) Organizational justice in e-recruiting: Issues and controversies. Surveillance & Society1(2): 227–231.
85.
SeifertDLSweeneyJTJoiremanJThorntonJM (2010) The influence of organizational justice on accountant whistleblowing. Accounting, Organizations and Society35(7): 707–717.
86.
ShaoRAquinoKFreemanD (2008) Beyond moral reasoning: A review of moral identity research and its implications for business ethics. Business Ethics Quarterly18(4): 513–540.
87.
ShaoRRuppDESkarlickiDPJonesKS (2013) Employee justice across cultures: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Management39(1): 263–301.
88.
ShapiroDLBrettJM (2005) What is the role of control in organizational justice? In: GreenbergJColquittJ (eds) Handbook of Organizational Justice. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 155–177.
89.
SitkinSBBiesRJ (1993) Social accounts in conflict situations: Using explanations to manage conflict. Human Relations46(3): 349–370.
90.
SitkinSBSeeKEMillerCCLawlessMWCartonAM (2011) The paradox of stretch goals: Organizations in pursuit of the seemingly impossible. Academy of Management Review36(3): 544–566.
91.
SkarlickiDPRuppDE (2010) Dual processing and organizational justice: The role of rational versus experiential processing in third-party reactions to workplace mistreatment. Journal of Applied Psychology95(5): 944–952.
92.
SkarlickiDPVan JaarsveldDDWalkerDD (2008) Getting even for customer mistreatment: The role of moral identity in the relationship between customer interpersonal injustice and employee sabotage. Journal of Applied Psychology93(6): 1335–1347.
93.
TenbrunselAESmith-CroweK (2008) Ethical decision-making: Where we’ve been and where we’re going. Academy of Management Annals2(1): 545–607.
94.
ThauSAquinoKWittekR (2007) An extension of uncertainty management theory to the self: The relationship between justice, social comparison orientation, and antisocial work behaviors. Journal of Applied Psychology92(1): 250–258.
95.
ThibautJWalkerL (1975) Procedural Justice: A Psychological Analysis. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
96.
TreviñoLKButterfieldKDMcCabeDL (1998) The ethical context in organizations: Influences on employee attitudes and behaviors. Business Ethics Quarterly8(3): 447–476.
97.
TreviñoLKWeaverGR (2001) Organizational justice and ethics program ‘follow-through’: Influences on employees’ harmful and helpful behavior. Business Ethics Quarterly11(4): 651–671.
98.
TreviñoLKWeaverGRReynoldsSJ (2006) Behavioral ethics in organizations: A review. Journal of Management32(6): 951–990.
99.
TrippTMBiesRJAquinoK (2002) Poetic justice or petty jealousy? The aesthetics of revenge. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes89(1): 966–984.
100.
TurilloCJFolgerRLavelleJJUmphressEEGeeJO (2002) Is virtue its own reward? Self-sacrificial decisions for the sake of fairness. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes89(1): 839–865.
101.
TylerTR (1990) Why People Obey the Law: Procedural Justice, Legitimacy, and Compliance. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
102.
TylerTRBladerSL (2000) Cooperation in Groups: Procedural Justice, Social Identity, and Behavioral Engagement. Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press.
103.
TylerTRBladerSL (2003) The group engagement model: Procedural justice, social identity, and cooperative behavior. Personality and Social Psychology Review7(4): 349–361.
104.
TylerTRDegoeyP (1995) Collective restraint in social dilemmas: Procedural justice and social identification effects on support for authorities. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology69(3): 482–497.
105.
TylerTRDegoeyPSmithHJ (1996) Understanding why the justice of group procedures matters: A test of the psychological dynamics of the group-value model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology70(5): 913–930.
106.
TylerTRLindEA (1992) A relational model of authority in groups. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology25: 115–191.
107.
TylerTRSmithHJ (1998) Social justice and social movements. In: GilbertDFiskeSTLindzeyG (eds) Handbook of Social Psychology, Vol. 4. Boston, MA: McGraw–Hill, 595–629.
108.
Van den BosKLindEA (2002) Uncertainty management by means of fairness judgments. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology34: 1–60.
109.
Van den BosKLindEAVermuntRWilkeHAM (1997) How do I judge my outcome when I do not know the outcome of others? The psychology of the fair process effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology72(5): 1034–1046.
110.
Van den BosKLindEAWilkeHAM (2001) The psychology of procedural and distributive justice viewed from the perspective of fairness heuristics theory. In: CropanzanoR (ed.) Justice in the Workplace: From Theory to Practice, Vol. 2. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 49–66.
111.
WeaverGR (1995) Does ethic code design matter? Effects of ethics code rationales and sanctions on recipients’ justice perceptions and content recall. Journal of Business Ethics14(5): 367–385.
112.
WrightTAGoodsteinJ (2007) Character is not ‘dead’ in management research: A review of individual character and organizational-level virtue. Journal of Management33(6): 928–958.
113.
ZhangZJiaM (2013) How can companies decrease the disruptive effects of stretch goals? The moderating role of interpersonal justice and informational justice. Human Relations66(7).
114.
Zoghbi-Manrique-de-LaraP (2010) Do unfair procedures predict employees’ ethical behavior by deactivating formal regulations?Journal of Business Ethics94(3): 411–425.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
