Organizational Justice in an Exchange Framework: Clarifying Organizational Justice Distinctions

Abstract

The authors used exchange theory to clarify distinctions between organizational justice types and considered the implications of recent conceptual developments regarding justice associated with interpersonal treatment (interactional justice) and the inclusion of justice associated with outcomes (distributive justice) for an exchange model of justice. Using two samples (401 part-time and 272 full-time employees), they found unique relationships of interactional justice and justice concerning informational adequacy with supervisor relationship quality, justice concerning procedures with organizational support, and distributive justice with pay satisfaction. Also, an updated measure of interactional justice appears to capture more of the interpersonal fairness domain than the current measure.