1 Introduction

Over the last couple of decades, the application of technology to organizational functions have become increasingly relevant and have been prioritized to promote organizational efficiency [1, 2]. The adoption of information technology in organizations have been associated with high market shares [3], high return on investment [4], lower cost of production [2] and overall survival of the firm [5].

Besides, the development of a work environment that promotes trust, rationality and fairness as antecedents to higher employee performance have become central to many organizations [6]. According to Jackson [6], the creation of a fair work environment has the potential of influencing citizenship behaviours, turnover intentions and organizational commitment among employees.

Amidst this dichotomic dilemma of prioritizing people or technology, there seems to be a dearth of empirical research into the people – technology nexus in terms of how the latter stimulates the perception of fairness among employees. This study therefore adopts a multi-disciplinary approach, delving into information technology and organizational psychology literature to provide an understanding of the nexus between information technology adoption and perceptions of justice in firms. In an era of sociomateriality, this study is opportune in promoting the understanding of the human and behavioural sides of firms’ adoption of technology.

2 Theoretical Foundation and Development of Hypotheses

2.1 Information Technology in Organizations

The term Information Technology (IT) is often used in relation to the application of technologies as part of the business operations of an organization. Several studies have assessed the impact of IT on organizations as a resource for producing change, efficiency and overall superior firm performance [2, 7].

2.2 Organizational Justice

Generally, the concept of organizational justice has been used to connote perceptions of fairness at work [8]. In literature, the concept has developed as a three-dimensional concept; distributive, procedural and interactional justice. Distributive justice refers to the perception of fairness in the allocation of resources or outcomes [6]. Procedural justice refers to perceptions of fairness in formal procedures used in making decisions [6]. According to Tyler [9], it involves the procedures by which outcomes are determined and performance are measured. This third dimension of organizational justice, interactional justice, refers basically to the perception of fairness in the form of the treatment an individual receives from a decision-maker [6].

2.3 Theory of Sociomateriality

Drawing from the Sociomateriality theory, this study seeks to explain how technology adoption is integral in determining behavioural patterns such as perceptions of fairness among employees at the workplace. The Sociomateriality theory propounded by Orlikowski [10], is predicated on the assumption that “the social and the material are constitutively entangled in everyday life” and are inextricably related such that “there is no social that is not also material, and no material that is not also social” (p. 1437).

This theory therefore suggests that organizational research needs not perceive technology and its interaction with organizational life as discrete variables but rather intricately linked concepts. This assumption is supported subtly by Wickramasinghe [11] who suggests that the adoption of a technology has people consequences. Considering the social implications of technology adoption, this study proposes that the adoption of technology by firms will result in increased perception of fairness among employees and thus hypothesizes that ‘there is significant positive relationship between firm technology adoption and the composite and dimensional measures of justice perceptions among employees.

3 Method

3.1 Participants and Procedures

The study was conducted as a cross-sectional survey. Questionnaires were self-administered to a total of 256 business executives and out of this, 220 questionnaires were among those that were completed when retrieved representing almost 86% return rate. The sample consisted of a fair representation of males (M = 55%) and females (F = 45%). More than 80% of the respondents were 40 years of age and below representing a highly youthful workforce. It was thus not surprising that majority of these respondents (53%) were single while 44% were married. In addition, more than 76% of the total respondents had not more than six years of working experience. Besides, more than 90% of the respondents had at least a bachelors degree representing a highly skilled workforce used as participants of the study. The respondents were drawn from a host of industries including academia, law, banking, insurance and public service among others.

3.2 Measures

Information Technology Adoption.

To measure the adoption of technology by the firms [12], Information Technology Survey was adopted. 30 items of information technology adoption were measured on a 5-point Likert type scale where 1 = “strongly disagree”, 5 = “strongly agree”. A representative item was, “My company provides training for its employees on new information technology”. The reliability of the scale was 0.936.

Organizational Justice.

A three-dimensional scale of organizational justice was adopted to measure distributive, procedural and interactional justice [13]. 20 items were measured on a 5-point Likert type scale where 1 = “strongly disagree”, 5 = “strongly agree” as a composite measure of organizational justice. 5 items measured distributive justice, 6 items measured procedural justice and the remaining 9 items measured interactional justice. A representative sample item was, “My work schedule is fair”. The reliability of the scale was 0.947.

4 Results

The descriptive statistics and correlations of the variables in this study were calculated and their means and standard deviations are reported below.

From Table 1 above, results from a sample of 220 business executives showed a mean score for organizational justice of 3.3408 with standard deviation of 0.71597. Also, the mean and standard deviation for the adoption of information technology by firms were 3.5211 and 0.76424 respectively.

Table 1. Descriptive statistics and correlation matrix
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4.1 Hypothesis for Composite Justice Perceptions

There is a significant positive relationship between firm technology adoption and perceptions of justice among employees. The results are shown below.

Table 2 shows that the regression model for the IT-organizational justice nexus was significantly fit (F = 76.038, p < .000). R square of 0.260 indicates that the adoption of IT accounted for approximately 26% of the variation in organizational justice perceptions among business executives. The results show that there is a significant positive relationship between adoption of IT and the perceptions of justice (β = 0.510, p < .000). The results thus support the hypothesis that there is a significant positive relationship between firm technology adoption and perceptions of justice among employees.

Table 2. Results of a simple regression for organizational justice and IT adoption
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4.2 Hypotheses for Dimensional Interactions

There is a significant positive relationship between firm technology adoption and dimensions of organizational justice among employees.

Table 3 shows fitness of the regression models for IT adoption and distributive justice (F = 47.339, p < .000), IT adoption and procedural justice (F = 48.400, p < .000) and IT adoption and interactional justice relationship (F = 71.079, p < .000). R square of 0.178 indicates that the adoption of IT accounted for approximately 18% of the variation in distributive justice perceptions among the respondents. The results show that there is a significant positive relationship between adoption of IT and distributive justice (β = 0.422, p < .000). The results thus support the hypothesis that there is a significant positive relationship between firm technology adoption and perceptions of distributive justice among employees.

Table 3. Results of a simple regression for justice dimensions and IT adoption
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Also, R square value of 0.182 shows that approximately 18% of the variation in procedural justice was as a result of IT adoption by the firms. The results show that there is a significant positive relationship between adoption of IT and procedural justice (β = 0.427, p < .000). Thus, the hypothesis that there is a significant positive relationship between firm technology adoption and perceptions of procedural justice among employees was supported.

Finally, R square value of 0.247 shows that approximately 25% of the variation in interactional justice was as a result of IT adoption by the firms. The results show that there is a significant positive relationship between adoption of IT and interactional justice (β = 0.497, p < .000). Thus, the hypothesis that there is a significant positive relationship between firm technology adoption and perceptions of interactional justice among employees was supported.

5 Discussion

Adopting Sociomateriality to describe the relationship between IT adoption and organizational justice, this study sought to explain the nexus between information technology adoption and perceptions of justice in firms. The study found a significant positive relationship between the adoption of IT by firms and perceptions of organizational justice among business executives in Ghana. This means that as firms resort to the use of technology, it intricately enhances the perceptions of fairness among its employees. This finding is supported by [14] who found increased perception of fairness among employees when they use technological tools.

Furthermore, the study found a significant positive relationship between IT adoption and distributive justice. This implies that as employees perceive technological protocols are used as the basis for the allocation of resources, they develop higher perceptions of fairness about their organization. Jackson [6] provides a basis for supporting this finding explaining that individuals take cues from their context (in this case the adoption of IT by their firms) and uses that as a basis of comparison. Since technologies often result in objective and less intuitive processes for the allocation of resources, employees develop enhanced perceptions of distributive justice when such contexts are run on technology such as the use of HR information systems for distribution of rewards and bonuses.

Another finding of this study was that firms’ adoption of IT was significantly related positively to procedural justice. This means that when employees perceive that technologies are used in the process of making decisions, they develop a greater sense of fairness in such procedures. Jackson [6] supports this finding offering that, individuals perceive fairness in formal procedures when they could trust the processes for making decisions and are certain of the outcomes that could be used in such occasions [6]. Technological application to organizational processes helps to build trust, predictability and certainty about decisions made [15], thus creating a increased feeling of fairness among employees.

Finally, the study found that the adoption of IT by firms was significantly related positively to interactional justice. This means that since IT influenced decisions are clear, truthful and consistent, individuals develop a sense that they are being treated with courtesy, respect and dignity thus, resulting in positive interactional justice perceptions [16]. This finding is supported by the voice-justice literature [17] which explains that employees obtain value in voice behaviour since it is a demonstration of the manager’s politeness, respect and willingness to consider the employee’s views.

6 Limitation, Implications and Directions for Future Research

This study did not focus on the adoption of a specific technology but as a survey, sought to understand the influence generic information technology tools used in organizations could influence perceptions of fairness among employees. It is thus recommended for future research to examine identifiable technologies adopted by companies and measure the extent to which such technologies influence justice perceptions. Furthermore, the study examined the direct relationship between IT adoption and justice perceptions without considering the processes through which such a relationship is enhanced or hindered. It is thus recommended for future studies to examine the mediation of variables such as trust in technologies in this IT adoption-fairness relationship. Nonetheless, the findings of this study serve as a baseline empirically establishing a relationship between materiality and behavioural processes – a foundation upon which future IS and organizational behaviour studies can be developed.

7 Conclusion

The study sought to examine the extent to which the adoption of IT was critical in influencing the perception of justice of employees. From the findings, it could be firmly concluded that the investment in technology, integration of IT in business processes and the use of IT in decentralizing decision making in organizations are critical in determining the extent to which employees will perceive the allocation of resources, the procedures of decision making as well as their overall treatment as fair.

It could thus be concluded that “IT” matters for firms to adopt and integrate technology in their organizational processes in their pursuit of a climate of fairness at work.