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Procedural Justice and Employee Engagement: Roles of Organizational Identification and Moral Identity Centrality

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Abstract

Workplace procedural justice is an important motivator for employee work attitude and performance. This research examines how procedural justice affects employee engagement. We developed three propositions. First, based on the group engagement model, we hypothesized that procedural justice enhances employee engagement through employee organizational identification. Second, employees with stronger moral identity centrality are more likely to be engaged in their jobs. Third, procedural justice compensates for the effect of moral identity centrality on employee engagement. Specifically, when procedural justice is higher, employee moral identity centrality plays a less significant role in employee engagement; whilst when procedural justice is lower, the effect of moral identity centrality on employee engagement is stronger. Research findings based on an employee survey in a leading financial service organization provide support for the above propositions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Strathclyde Business School, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, G4 0QU, UK

    Hongwei He

  2. Department of Labor Studies and Employment Relations, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Weichun Zhu

  3. School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Xiaoming Zheng

Authors
  1. Hongwei He
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  2. Weichun Zhu
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  3. Xiaoming Zheng
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hongwei He.

Appendix: Measurement Items and Loadings

Appendix: Measurement Items and Loadings

Employee Engagement (alpha = .94)

Physical Engagement (FL = .90) (alpha = .94)

  1. 1.

    I work with intensity on my job (FL = 87)

  2. 2.

    I exert my full effort to my job (FL = .92)

  3. 3.

    I devote a lot of energy to my job (FL = .93)

  4. 4.

    I try my hardest to perform well on my job (FL = .84)

Emotional Engagement (FL = .92) (alpha = .94)

  1. 1.

    I am enthusiastic in my job (FL = .94)

  2. 2.

    I feel energetic at my job (FL = .93)

  3. 3.

    I am proud of my job (FL = .87)

  4. 4.

    I am excited about my job (FL = .83)

Cognitive Engagement (FL = .97) (alpha = .91)

  1. 1.

    At work, my mind is focused on my job (FL = .93)

  2. 2.

    At work, I focus a great deal of attention on my job (FL = .90)

  3. 3.

    At work, I am absorbed by my job (FL = .82)

OID (alpha = .90)

  1. 1.

    When someone criticizes X, it feels like a personal insult (FL = .86)

  2. 2.

    I am very interested in what others think about X (FL = .72)

  3. 3.

    X ‘s successes are my successes (FL = .85)

  4. 4.

    When someone praises X, it feels like a personal compliment (FL = .91)

  5. 5.

    If a story in the media criticized X, I would feel embarrassed (FL = .70)

Procedural Justice (alpha = .85)

  1. 1.

    X’ procedures and guidelines are very fair (FL = .91)

  2. 2.

    The procedures the organization uses to make decisions are not fair (FL = .60) R

  3. 3.

    I can count on the organization to have fair policies (FL = .91)

  4. 4.

    We don’t have any fair policies at the organization (FL = .62) R

Moral Identity Centrality (alpha = .83)

Listed below are some characteristics that might describe a person:

Caring, Compassionate, Fair, Friendly, Generous, Helpful, Hardworking, Honest, Kind

The person with these characteristics could be you or it could be someone else. For a moment, visualize in your mind the kind of person who has these characteristics. Imagine how that person would think, feel, and act. When you have a clear image of what this person would be like, answer the following questions

  1. 1.

    It would make me feel good to be a person who has these characteristics (FL = .94)

  2. 2.

    Being someone who has these characteristics is an important part of who I am (FL = .91)

  3. 3.

    I would be ASHAMED to be a person who had these characteristics (FL = .56) R

  4. 4.

    Having these characteristics is NOT really important to me (FL = .58) R

  5. 5.

    I strongly desire to have these characteristics (FL = .61)

Note: R = Reverse coding

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He, H., Zhu, W. & Zheng, X. Procedural Justice and Employee Engagement: Roles of Organizational Identification and Moral Identity Centrality. J Bus Ethics 122, 681–695 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1774-3

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