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Published on: February 16, 2011
Organizational justice and Black applicants' reactions to affirmative action
Russell Cropanzano1, Jerel E Slaughter, Peter D Bachiochi
1Department 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
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.
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