Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Are Perceptions of Organizational Justice Universal? An Exploration of Measurement Invariance Across Thirteen Cultures

  • Published:
Social Justice Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Previous research examined whether justice effects are comparable, focusing on quantitative differences in justice effects. This study examines whether justice perceptions are structured similarly or whether they are qualitatively different across working populations from 13 nations. Confirmatory factor analysis and multi-group analysis show that Colquitt’s (J Appl Psychol 86:386–400, 2001) four-dimensional model of justice works well across these samples. However, factor intercorrelations and reliabilities are found to systematically vary between cultural samples. Perceptions of justice are more highly intercorrelated in power distant and collectivistic samples, in line with extensions of the relational model of authority. Score reliabilities were lower in collectivistic settings.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adams, J. S. (1965). Inequity in social exchange. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 267–296). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bell, B. S., Wiechmann, D., & Ryan, A. M. (2006). Consequences of organizational justice expectations in a selection system. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91, 455–466.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bentler, P. M. (1990). Comparative fit indexes in structural models. Psychological Bulletin, 107, 238–246.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bentler, P. M., & Bonnett, D. G. (1980). Significance tests and goodness of fit in the analysis of covariance structures. Psychological Bulletin, 88, 588–606.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bies, R. J., & Moag, J. S. (1986). Interactional justice: Communication criteria of fairness. In R. J. Lewicki, B. H. Sheppard, & B. H. Bazerman (Eds.), Research on negotiation in organizations (Vol. 1, pp. 43–55). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bollen, K. A. (1989). Structural equations with latent variables. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brockner, J., Ackerman, G., Greenberg, J., Gelfand, M. J., Francesco, A. M., Chen, Z. X., et al. (2001). Cultural and procedural justice: The influence of power distance on reactions to voice. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 37, 300–315.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Browne, M. W., & Cudeck, R. (1992). Alternative ways of assessing model fit. Sociological Methods and Research, 21, 230–258.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheung, G. W., & Rensvold, R. B. (2000). Assessing extreme and acquiescence response sets in cross-cultural research using structural equation modeling. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 31, 187–212.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chiaburu, D. S., & Marinova, S. V. (2006). Employee role enlargement: Interactions of trust and organizational fairness. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 27, 168–182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen-Charash, Y., & Spector, P. E. (2001). The role of justice in organizations: A meta-analysis. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 86, 278–321.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Colquitt, J. A. (2001). On the dimensionality of organizational justice: A construct validation of a measure. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 386–400.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Colquitt, J. A., Conlon, D. E., Wesson, M. J., Porter, C. O. L. H., & Ng, K. Y. (2001). Justice at the millennium: A meta-analytic review of 25 years of organizational justice research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 425–445.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Colquitt, J. A., & Shaw, J. C. (2005). How should organizational justice be measured? In J. Greenberg & J. A. Colquitt (Eds.), Handbook of organizational justice (pp. 113–154). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Dreu, C. K. W., Nijstad, B. A., & van Knippenberg, D. (2008). Motivated information processing in group judgment and decision making. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 12, 22–49.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Erez, M., & Earley, P. C. (1993). Culture, self-identity, and work. New York: Oxford University Press.

  • Farh, J., Earley, P. C., & Lin, S. (1997). A cultural analysis of justice and organisational citizenship behaviour in Chinese society. Administrative Science Quarterly, 42, 421–444.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fields, D., Pang, M., & Chiu, C. (2000). Distributive and procedural justice as predictors of employee outcomes in Hong Kong. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 21, 547–562.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R. (2008). Organizational Justice and Reward Allocation. In P. B. Smith, M. Peterson, & D. Thomas (Eds.), Handbook of Cross-Cultural Management (pp. 135–150). Los Angeles: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R., & Chalmers, A. (2008). Is optimism universal? A meta-analytical investigation of optimism levels across 22 nations. Personality and Individual Differences, 45, 378–382.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R., & Fontaine, J. R. (2010). Methods for investigating structural equivalence. In D. Matsumoto & F. van de Vijver (Eds.), Cross-cultural research methods in psychology (pp. 179–215). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R., & Mansell, A. (2009). Commitment across cultures: A meta-analytical approach. Journal of International Business Studies, 40, 1339–1358.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R., & Smith, P. B. (2003). Reward allocation and culture: A meta-analysis. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 34, 251–268.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R., & Smith, P. B. (2004). Values and organizational justice: Performance and seniority-based allocation criteria in UK and Germany. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 35, 669–688.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R., & Smith, P. B. (2006). Who cares about justice? The moderating effect of values on the link between organizational justice and work behavior. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 55, 541–562.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R., Smith, P. B., Richey, B. E., Ferreira, M. C., Assmar, E. M. L., Maes, J., & Stumpf, S. (2007). How do organizations allocate rewards? The predictive validity of national values, economic and organizational factors across six nations. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 38, 3–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fontaine, J. R. J. (2005). Equivalence. In K. Kempf-Leonard (Ed.), Encyclopedia of social measurement (pp. 803–813). Academic Press.

  • Forgas, J. P., & George, J. M. (2001). Affective influences on judgements and behaviour in organizations: An information processing perspective. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 86, 3–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gelfand, M. J., Erez, M., & Aycan, Z. (2007). Cross-cultural organizational behavior. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 479–514.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg, J. (1993). The social side of fairness: Interpersonal and informational classes of organizational justice. In R. Cropanzano (Ed.), Justice in the workplace: Approaching fairness in human resource management (pp. 79–103). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henrich, J., Heine, S., & Norenzayan, A. (2010). The weirdest people in the world? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33, 61–135.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hofstede, G. H. (2001). Culture’s consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions and organizations across nations, 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

  • House, R. J., Hanges, P. J., Javidan, M., Dorfman, P., & Gupta, V. (2004). GLOBE, cultures, leadership, and organizations: GLOBE study of 62 societies. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hu, L., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cut off criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6, 1–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Igalens, J., & Roussel, P. (1999). A study of the relationship between compensation package, work motivation and job satisfaction. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 20, 1003–1025.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, T., Kulesa, P., Cho, Y. I., & Shavitt, S. (2005). The relation between culture and response styles: Evidence from 19 countries. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 36, 264–277.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Judge, T. A., & Colquitt, J. A. (2004). Organizational justice and stress: The mediating role of work-family conflict. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 395–404.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lam, S. S. K., Schaubroeck, J., & Aryee, S. (2002). Relationship between organizational justice and employee work outcomes: A cross-national study. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23, 1–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leung, K., & Tong, K. K. (2004). Justice across cultures: A three-stage model for intercultural negotiation. In M. Gelfand & J. M. Brett (Eds.), Handbook of negotiation and culture (pp. 313–333). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leventhal, G. S. (1980). What should be done with equity theory? New approaches to the study of fairness in social relationships. In K. J. Gergen, M. S. Greenberg, & R. H. Willis (Eds.), Social exchange: Advances in theory and research (pp. 27–54). New York: Plenum.

  • Lind, E. A., Tyler, T. R., & Huo, Y. J. (1997). Procedural context and culture: Variation in the antecedents of procedural justice judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 767–780.

    Google Scholar 

  • Little, T. D. (1997). Mean and covariance structures (MACS) analyses of cross-cultural data: Practical and theoretical issues. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 32, 53–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas, T., Parkhill, M. R., Wendorf, C. A., Imamoglu, E. O., Weisfeld, C. C., Weisfeld, G. E., et al. (2008). Cultural and evolutionary components of marital satisfaction: A multidimensional assessment of measurement invariance. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 39, 109–123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marsh, H. W., Balla, J. R., & McDonald, R. P. (1988). Goodness of fit indexes in confirmatory factor analysis: The effect of sample size. Psychological Bulletin, 103, 391–410.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meredith, W. (1993). Measurement invariance, factor analysis and factorial invariance. Psychometrika, 58, 525–543.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mulaik, S. A., James, L. R., Van Alstine, J., Bennett, N., Lind, S., & Stilwell, C. D. (1989). Evaluation of goodness of fit indices for structural equation models. Psychological Bulletin, 105, 430–445.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norenzayan, A., & Heine, S. J. (2005). Psychological universals: What are they and how can we know? Psychological Bulletin, 135, 763–784.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nunnally, J. C. (1978). Psychometric theory (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

  • Pillai, R., Williams, E. S., & Tan, J. J. (2001). Are the scales tipped in favour of procedural or distributive justice? An investigation of the US, India, Germany and Hong Kong (China). International Journal of Conflict Management, 12, 312–332.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rego, A. (2002). Comprometimento afectivo dos membros organizacionais: O papel das percepções de justiça (Affective commitment of organizational members: The role of justice perceptions). Revista de Administração Contemporânea, 6, 209–241.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roch, S. G., & Shanock, L. R. (2006). Organizational justice in an exchange framework: Clarifying organizational justice distinctions. Journal of Management, 32, 299–322.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmitt, D. P., & Allik, J. (2005). Simultaneous administration of the Rosenberg self-esteem scale in 53 nations: Exploring the universal and culture-specific features of global self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 623–642.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schmitt, D. P., Allik, J., McCrae, R. R., & Benet-Martinez, V. (2007). The geographic distribution of Big Five personality traits: Patterns and profiles of human self-description across 56 nations. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 38, 173–212.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, S. H. (1994). Beyond individualism-collectivism: New cultural dimensions of values. In U. Kim, H. C. Triandis, C. Kagitcibasi, S. C. Choi, & G. Yoon (Eds.), Individualism and collectivism: Theory, method and pplications (pp. 85–119). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, S. H. (2006). A theory of cultural value orientations: Explication and applications. Comparative Sociology, 5, 136–182.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, P. B. (2004). Acquiescent bias in cross-cultural comparisons. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 35, 50–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, P. B., & Fischer, R. (2008). Acquiescence, extreme response bias and levels of cross-cultural analysis. In F. J. R. van de Vijver, D. A. van Hemert, & Y. Poortinga (Eds.), Individuals and cultures in multi-level analysis (pp. 283–311). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thibaut, J., & Walker, L. (1975). Procedural justice: A psychological analysis. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tsui, A. S., Nifadkar, S. S., & Ou, A. Y. (2007). Cross-national, cross-cultural organizational behavior research: Advance, gaps and recommendations. Journal of Management, 33, 426–478.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tyler, T. R., & Lind, E. A. (1992). A relational model of authority in groups. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 25, pp. 115–191). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van de Vijver, F., & Hambleton, R. K. (1996). Translating tests: Some practical guidelines. European Psychologist, 1, 89–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van de Vijver, F., & Leung, K. (1997). Methods and data analysis of comparative research. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vandenberg, R. J., & Lance, C. E. (2000). A review and synthesis of the measurement invariance literature: Suggestions, practices, and recommendations for organizational research. Organizational Research Methods, 3, 4–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

    Ronald Fischer, Socorro Mendoza & Donna Achmadi

  2. Salgado de Oliveira University, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Maria Cristina Ferreira

  3. National Chung-Cheng University, Minhsiung, Chiayi County, Taiwan

    Ding-Yu Jiang

  4. National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Bor-Shiuan Cheng

  5. Arab Open University, Kuwait, Kuwait

    Mustapha M. Achoui

  6. Deutsche Bank AG, New York, USA

    Corbin C. Wong

  7. Anadolu University, Eskisehir, Turkey

    Gulfidan Baris, Gunes Zeytinoglu & Figen Dalyan

  8. Middlesex University Business School, London, UK

    Nathalie van Meurs

  9. International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Arif Hassan

  10. American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

    Charles Harb & Dania D. Darwish

  11. Salgado de Oliveira University, Niteroi, Brazil

    Eveline M. Assmar

Authors
  1. Ronald Fischer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Maria Cristina Ferreira
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ding-Yu Jiang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Bor-Shiuan Cheng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Mustapha M. Achoui
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Corbin C. Wong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Gulfidan Baris
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Socorro Mendoza
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Nathalie van Meurs
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Donna Achmadi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Arif Hassan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Gunes Zeytinoglu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  13. Figen Dalyan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  14. Charles Harb
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  15. Dania D. Darwish
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  16. Eveline M. Assmar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ronald Fischer.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Fischer, R., Ferreira, M.C., Jiang, DY. et al. Are Perceptions of Organizational Justice Universal? An Exploration of Measurement Invariance Across Thirteen Cultures. Soc Just Res 24, 297–313 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11211-011-0142-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11211-011-0142-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation