Scheduled for Research Consortium Poster Social: Representative Research in HPERD, Wednesday, April 9, 2008, 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM, Convention Center: Exhibit Hall, Reseach Consortium Poster Sessions


Organizational Justice as a Predictor of Perceived Organizational Support

Jeremy S. Jordan, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, Brian A. Turner, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH and Simon M. Pack, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between organizational justice and perceived organizational support (POS) in a recreational sports setting. Employee perceptions of workplace fairness, termed organizational justice, are generally considered to be comprised of three dimensions. Distributive justice is determined by the fairness of rewards (Greenberg, 1990), procedural justice is based on organizational polices (Colquitt, 2001), and interactional justice is influenced by the treatment an employee receives from supervisory personnel (Bies & Moag, 1986). Findings from past research suggest that the three dimensions of justice can serve as an antecedent to POS. The formation of POS is based on employee beliefs that the organization cares about them and values their contributions (Eisenberger et al., 1986). Employees are more likely to reciprocate positive attitudes and actions towards an organization when they experience POS. While there have been studies which examined the relationship between the two constructs in other settings, no such attempt has been made in the sport management literature. The present study attempts to fill this void by examining the degree that organizational justice predicts POS. A total of 152 student workers (response rate = 30.8%) employed at a recreational sports department participated in this study. POS was measured with the Survey of Perceived Organizational Support (SPOS) developed by Eisenberger et al. (1986) while the three dimensions of organizational justice were measured using the Organizational Justice Index (OJI) (Rahim, Magner, & Shapiro, 2000). Reliability estimates (Cronbach's alpha) for all measures were .87 or higher. Multiple linear regression was used to determine the cumulative and unique contributions each organizational justice variable had on POS. The regression equation with POS and all three organizational justice variables in it was significant, F (3, 150) = 70.216, p < .001, explaining 58.1% of the variance. All three justice variables, distributive justice, â = .365, t (150) = 4.850, p < .001, interactional justice, â = .195, t (150) = 2.087, p = .039, and procedural justice, â = .291, t (150) = 2.833, p = .005, contributed uniquely to the explained variance. Findings from this study suggest that organizational justice plays a significant role in the development of POS. Employee perceptions of organizational justice is quite relevant in assessing their subsequent levels of POS. Recreational sports departments that demonstrate fairness in rewards, procedures and treatment of workers are more likely to have employees that reciprocate positive actions towards the organization.
Keyword(s): administration/mgmt, recreation, sport management

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