Fair today, fair tomorrow? A longitudinal investigation of overall justice perceptions.

Abstract

Most work on organizational justice has been cross-sectional and focused on specific justice dimensions rather than perceptions of overall justice. As a result, little is known about how overall justice perceptions unfold over time. This study attempts to bridge gaps in the literature by examining overall organizational and overall supervisory justice perceptions of 213 individuals over 3 points in time. Results showed significant variability in overall justice perceptions across time. Specifically, within-person variance accounted for 24% and 29% of the total variance in overall organizational and supervisory justice, respectively. Further, compared with specific justice dimensions, trust emerged as a particularly strong predictor of within-person and between-person variance in overall justice perceptions. Implications for the justice literature and organizational practice are discussed.