title: Organizational justice and Black applicants' reactions to affirmative action.
abstract: Using organizational justice as a guiding framework, the authors studied perceptions of affirmative action programs by presumed beneficiaries. Three conceptual issues were addressed: (a) the content of different affirmative action plans; (b) the 3-way interaction among distributive, procedural, and interactional justice; and (c) the distinction between outcome favorability and distributive justice. These ideas were tested with a sample of Black engineering students who responded to 1 of 6 plans. Participants distinguished among the various plans, with some policies being viewed as more fair than others. In addition, a 3-way interaction among the 3 types of organizational justice was observed. Specifically, the 2-way interaction between distributive and interactional fairness was only significant when procedural justice was low. Implications for organizational justice and for the design of affirmative action programs are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Management and Policy, Eller College of Management, University of Arizona, McClelland Hall Rm. 405, PO Box 210108, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA. russell@eller.arizona.edu
authors.forename: Russell
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cropanzano
authors.forename: Jerel E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Slaughter
authors.forename: Peter D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Bachiochi
mesh_terms: D001076:Aptitude; D001290:Attitude; D044383:Black People / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology*; D002961:Civil Rights / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D004738:Engineering / Q000193:education; D006801:Humans; D007586:Job Application; D016134:Organizational Policy; D010560:Personnel Selection / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D011287:Prejudice; D012935:Social Justice; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D014481:United States; D001741:Black or African American