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Organizational justice and mental health: A multi‐level test of justice interactions
Author(s) -
Fischer Ronald,
Abubakar Amina,
Nyaboke Arasa Josephine
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
international journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1464-066X
pISSN - 0020-7594
DOI - 10.1002/ijop.12005
Subject(s) - psychology , distributive justice , interpersonal communication , economic justice , mental health , social psychology , interactional justice , organizational justice , multilevel model , interpersonal relationship , procedural justice , organizational commitment , political science , psychiatry , law , machine learning , neuroscience , computer science , perception
We examine main and interaction effects of organizational justice at the individual and the organizational levels on general health in a Kenyan sample. We theoretically differentiate between two different interaction patterns of justice effects: buffering mechanisms based on trust versus intensifying explanations of justice interactions that involve psychological contract violations. Using a two‐level hierarchical linear model with responses from 427 employees in 29 organizations, only interpersonal justice at level 1 demonstrated a significant main effect. Interactions between distributive and interpersonal justice at both the individual and the collective levels were found. The intensifying hypothesis was supported: the relationship between distributive justice and mental health problems was strongest when interpersonal justice was high. This contrasts with buffering patterns described in Western samples. We argue that justice interaction patterns shift depending on the economic conditions and sociocultural characteristics of employees studied.