Disagreeing about What's Fair: Exploring the Relationship between Perceptions of Justice and Employee Dissent

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between employees' perceptions of justice within their organizations and their tendencies for expressing dissent. A sample of full-time working adults (N = 141) completed a survey instrument. Results indicated that managers' perceptions of justice related positively to their use of upward dissent and negatively to their use of displaced dissent, and that non-managers' perceptions of justice related negatively to their use of latent and displaced dissent. Overall, the findings suggest that although managers and non-managers respond differently to perceptions of justice, how fair employees perceive organizational decision-making practices to be relates to their dissent expression.

Keywords:

• Employee Dissent
• Employee Voice
• Fairness Perceptions
• Interactional Justice
• Perceptions of Justice
• Procedural Justice

Notes

∗p < .01

†p < .05, one-tailed.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jeffrey W. Kassing

Jeffrey W. Kassing (PhD, Kent State University, 1997) is an associate professor

Zachary J. McDowell

Zachary J. McDowell (BS, Arizona State University) is a graduate student in the Department of Communication Studies at Arizona State University West, Phoenix, Arizona.