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Citizen perceptions of procedural fairness and the moderating roles of ‘belief in a just world’ and ‘public service motivation’ in public hiring
Author(s) -
Pedersen Mogens Jin,
Stritch Justin M.,
Taggart Gabel
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.313
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1467-9299
pISSN - 0033-3298
DOI - 10.1111/padm.12353
Subject(s) - perception , public relations , public service motivation , process (computing) , public service , service (business) , psychology , social psychology , business , political science , marketing , public sector , law , neuroscience , computer science , operating system
This article expands our knowledge of how variation in public administrative processes affects citizen perceptions of procedural fairness (CPPF). Focusing on a specific administrative process—the selection and hiring process—we use a survey experimental design among 823 US citizens and examine the effect of a public hiring process involving the appearance of advocacy from an applicant's social contacts on CPPF. Moreover, we theoretically and empirically examine the moderating effects of two psychological constructs: ‘belief in a just world’ and ‘public service motivation’. We find that citizens rate the procedural fairness of a hiring situation much lower when the situation appears to be influenced by an applicant's social contacts. However, citizens who report stronger ‘belief in a just world’ have less concern with a hiring process marked by advocacy, whereas citizens with higher levels of ‘public service motivation’ have more concern.