Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Validity Evidence for Measures of Procedural/Distributive Justice and Pay/Benefit Satisfaction

  • Published:
Journal of Business and Psychology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A brief review reveals confusion regarding relationships among constructs of pay and benefits satisfaction and distributive and procedural justice. Nonetheless, the literature yields measures for each of these variables that show promise for future theoretical development. A validation study for four of these scales involved 154 working adults across a variety of organizations and industries.

Data were analyzed via interitem and interscale correlations and confirmatory factor analysis. Analytical products provide evidence of scale reliability, homogeneity, and convergent and discriminant validity. Correlations were also calculated between the satisfaction and justice variables, income, and other attitudinal constructs, including organizational commitment, job satisfaction, propensity to resign, and work effort. The resulting pattern of relationships not only provides evidence of construct validity, but also suggests that the reward satisfaction and fairness variables, although related, contribute uniquely to several aspects of organizational life.

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 Psychology 2 (pp. 267–299). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barrett-Howard, E., & Tyler, T. R. (1986). Procedural justice a criterion in allocation decisions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 296–304.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bentler, P. M. (1985). Theory and Implementation of EQS, a Structural Equations Program. Los Angeles: BMDP Statistical Software.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berkowitz, L., Fraser, C., & Treasure, F. P. (1987). Pay, equity, job gratifications, and comparisons in pay satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 72, 544–551.

    Google Scholar 

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

    Google Scholar 

  • Bies, R. J., & Shapiro, D. L. (1988). Voice and justification: their influence on procedural fairness judgments. Academy of Management Journal, 31, 676–685.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blau, G. (1994). Testing the effect of level and importance of pay referents on pay level satisfaction. Human Relations, 47, 1251–1268.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brockner, J., Konovsky, M., & Cooper-Schneider, R. (1994). Interactive effects of procedural justice and outcome negativity on victims and survivors of job loss. Academy of Management Journal, 37, 397–409.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brockner, J., Tyler, T. R., & Cooper-Schneider, R. (1992). The influence of prior commitment to an institution on reactions to perceived unfairness: The higher they are, the harder they fall. Administrative Science Quarterly, 37, 241–261.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brockner, J., Wiesenfeld, B. M., & Martin, C. L. (1995). Decision frame, procedural justice, and survivors' reactions to job layoffs. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 63, 59–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooke, P. P., Russell, D. W., & Price, J. L. (1988). Discriminant validation of measures of job satisfaction, job involvement, and organizational commitment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 73, 139–145.

    Google Scholar 

  • Caldwell, D. F., Chatman, J. A., & O'Reilly, C. A. (1990). Building organizational commitment: A multifirm study. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 63, 245–261.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carraher, S. M. (1991). A validity study of the pay satisfaction questionnaire (PSQ). Educational and Psychological Measurement, 51, 491–495.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, L. A., and Watson, D. (1995). Constructing validity: Basic issues in objective scale development. Psychological Assessment, 7, 309–319.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cronbach, L. J., & Meehl, P. E. (1955). Construct validity in psychological tests. Psychological Bulletin, 52, 281–302.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dailey, R. C., & Kirk, D. J. (1992). Distributive and procedural justice as antecedents of job dissatisfaction and intent to turnover. Human Relations, 45, 305–317.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dittrich, J. E., & Carroll, M. R. (1979). Organizational equity perceptions, employee job satisfaction, and departmental absence and turnover rates. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 24, 29–40.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dornstein, M. (1989). The fairness judgements of received pay and their determinants. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 8, 287–299.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dougherty, T. W., & Pritchard, R. D. (1985). The measurement of role variables: Exploratory examination of a new approach. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 35, 141–155.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dyer, L., & Theriault, R. (1976). The determinants of pay satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 61, 596–604.

    Google Scholar 

  • Folger, R., & Konovsky, M. A. (1989). Effects of procedural and distributive justice on reactions to pay raise decisions. Academy of Management Journal, 32, 115–130.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gomez-Mejia, L. R., & Balkin, D. B. (1992). Compensation, Organizational Strategy, and Firm Performance. Cincinnati: South-Western.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg, J. (1983). Self-image versus impression management in adherence to distributive justice standards: The influence of self-awareness and self-consciousness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 5–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg, J. (1986). Determinants of perceived fairness of performance evaluation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71, 340–342.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg, J. (1987a). A taxonomy of organizational justice theories. Academy of Management Review, 12, 9–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg, J. (1987b). Reactions to procedural injustice in payment distributions: Do the means justify the ends? Journal of Applied Psychology, 72, 55–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heneman, H. G., III, & Schwab, D. P. (1985). Pay satisfaction: Its multidimensional nature and measurement. International Journal of Psychology, 20, 129–141.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herzberg, F., Mausner, B., and Snyderman, B. B. (1959). The Motivation to Work. New York: John Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huber, V. L., Seybolt, P. M., & Venemon, K. (1992). The relationship between individual inputs, perceptions, and multidimensional pay satisfaction. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 22, 1356–1373.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judge, T. A. (1993). Validity of the dimensions of the Pay Satisfaction Questionnaire: evidence of differential prediction. Personnel Psychology, 46, 331–355.

    Google Scholar 

  • Judge, T. A., & Welbourne, T. M. (1994). A confirmatory investigation of the dimensionality of the Pay Satisfaction Questionnaire. Journal of Applied Psychology, 79, 461–466.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kim, W. C., & Mauborgne, R. A. (1993). Procedural justice, attitudes, and subsidiary top management compliance with multinationals' corporate strategic decisions. Academy of Management Journal, 36, 502–526.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawler, E. E., III. (1971). Pay and Organizational Effectiveness: A Psychological View. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawler, E. E., III. (1990). Strategic Pay: Aligning Organizational Strategies and Pay Systems. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leventhal, G. S. (1980). What should be done with equity theory? In K. J. Gergen, M. S. Greenberg, & R. H. Weiss (Eds.), Social Exchange: Advances in Theory and Research (pp. 27–55). New York: Plenum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lind, E. A., Kulik, C., Ambrose, M., & de vera Park M. V. (1993). Individual and corporate dispute resolution: Using procedural fairness as a decision heuristic. Administrative Science Quarterly, 38, 224–251.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loehlin, J. C. (1987). Latent Variable Models. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lowe, R. H., & Vodanovich, S. J. (1995). A field study of distributive and procedural justice as predictors of satisfaction and organizational commitment. Journal of Business & Psychology, 10, 99–114.

    Google Scholar 

  • McFarlin, D. B., & Sweeney, P. D. (1992). Distributive and procedural justice as predictors of satisfaction with personal and organizational outcomes. Academy of Management Journal, 35, 636–637.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miceli, M. P., Jung, I., Near, J., & Greenberger, D. R. (1991). Predictors and outcomes of reactions to pay-for-performance plans. Journal of Applied Psychology, 76, 508–521.

    Google Scholar 

  • Michaels, J. W. (1983). Equity and reciprocity motivations as a function of the intentionality of underpayment. The Journal of Psychology, 114, 179–186.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moorman, R. H. (1991). Relationships between organizational justice and organizational citizenship behaviors: Do fairness perceptions influence employee citizenship? Journal of Applied Psychology, 76, 845–855.

    Google Scholar 

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

    Google Scholar 

  • Organ, D. W. (1990). The motivational basis of organizational citizenship behavior. In B. M. Staw & L. L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in Organizational Behavior, vol. 12: 43–72. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Orpen, C. (1993). The effect of organizational cultural norms on the relationships between personnel practices and employee commitment. The Journal of Psychology, 127, 577–579.

    Google Scholar 

  • Price, J. L., & Mueller, C. W. (1986). Handbook of Organizational Measurement. Marshfield, MA: Pitman.

    Google Scholar 

  • SAS Institute Inc. (1993). SAS/OR User's Guide, Version 6 (1st ed.). Cary, NC: SAS Institute Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scarpello, V., Huber, V., & Vandenberg, R. J. (1988). Compensation satisfaction: Its measurement and dimensionality. Journal of Applied Psychology, 73, 163–171.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sweeney, P. D., & McFarlin, D. B. (1993). Workers' evaluations of the ends and the means: An examination of four models of distributive and procedural justice. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 55, 23–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tedeschi, J. T., Riordan, C. A., Gaes, G. G., & Kane, T. (1983). Verbal accounts and attributions of social motives. Journal of Research in Personality, 17, 218–225.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tyler, T. R. (1990). Why People Obey the Law. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tyler, T. R. (1994). Psychological models of the justice motive: Antecedents of distributive and procedural justice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67: 850–863.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, M. L., & Dreher, G. F. (1992). Compensation system attributes and applicant pool characteristics. Academy of Management Journal, 35, 571–595.

    Google Scholar 

  • Witt, L. A., & Nye, L. G. (1992). Gender and the relationship between perceived fairness of pay or promotion and job satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 77, 910–917.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Middle Tennessee State University, USA

    Larry W. Howard

Authors
  1. Larry W. Howard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Howard, L.W. Validity Evidence for Measures of Procedural/Distributive Justice and Pay/Benefit Satisfaction. Journal of Business and Psychology 14, 135–147 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022966719583

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022966719583

Keywords

Search

Navigation