Testing the boundary conditions of justice climate effects: The moderating role of moral identity and corporate social responsibility

Meghan A Thornton, Purdue University

Abstract

While the lion's share of organizational justice research focuses on individual perceptions, researchers have recognized the value of group perceptions in understanding justice phenomena. Justice climate (i.e., shared perceptions of fairness among workgroup members) has often been studied using facet-specific and source-specific justice climates (e.g. procedural justice climate, supervisor justice climate) demonstrating the predictive power of group level perceptions of fairness. However, little research has explored the boundary conditions of justice climate effects. In this study, I propose that overall justice climate has a significant impact on group prosocial and deviant behaviors. I also propose that group perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and group moral identity moderate these effects and that these three variables (justice climate perceptions, group CSR perceptions, and group differences in moral identity) interact to impact organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) and deviance. A laboratory study was carried out to test these hypotheses. Results showed a significant effect for overall justice climate and a near marginal three-way interaction effect for overall justice climate, group moral identity, and group CSR perceptions. The implications for justice research are also discussed.

Degree

M.S.

Advisors

Rupp, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Social psychology|Psychology

COinS