Organizational justice and Black applicants' reactions to affirmative action.
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.
Cropanzano
Russell
R
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
Slaughter
Jerel E
JE
Bachiochi
Peter D
PD
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