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Role of employee felt obligation and endorsement of the just world hypothesis: A social exchange theory investigation in an organizational justice context
Author(s) -
Roch Sylvia G.,
Shan Choe E.,
Martin Jeremiah J.,
Swiderski David,
Agosta John P.,
Shanock Linda R.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/jasp.12578
Subject(s) - obligation , social psychology , social exchange theory , distributive justice , psychology , organizational citizenship behavior , organizational justice , interactional justice , perception , procedural justice , context (archaeology) , economic justice , interpersonal communication , task (project management) , perceived organizational support , organizational commitment , political science , law , management , economics , paleontology , biology , neuroscience
According to social exchange theory, felt obligation after being treated justly is key to explaining why justice perceptions influence behaviors important to organizations, such as task performance and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Perhaps those who believe in a just world (Just World Hypothesis, JWH) are more likely to feel obligated to reciprocate just treatment with behaviors benefiting the organization. Thus, our goal was to investigate whether belief in the JWH influences to what extent people feel obligated after being treated justly and the importance of felt obligation in regard to behavioral outcomes, such as OCB and task performance. Based on 160 university alumni and their supervisors, results provide support that justice perceptions can relate to both job performance and OCB via felt obligation, providing empirical support for the theoretical role of felt obligation in the social exchange theory explanation of how justice perceptions can translate into employee behaviors benefiting the organization. Results also suggest that endorsement of the JWH interacts with procedural and distributive justice perceptions, but not interpersonal justice perceptions, to influence felt obligation and that the indirect effect of distributive and procedural justice perceptions on both OCB and task performance via felt obligation is only significant for individuals with relatively high levels of endorsement of the JWH. Implications are discussed.