Douglas H. Flint

Perceptions of distributive and procedural justice in employee benefits: flexible versus traditional benefit plans

The self‐interest and relational models of organizational justice were tested to explain the relationship between benefit plan type and organizational justice. Benefit plan types considered were flexible and traditional plans. In support of the self‐interest model employees in flexible benefit plans had significantly higher perceptions of procedural justice than employees in traditional benefit plans. There were no significant differences in perceptions of distributive justice between the plan types.

Individual and organizational determinants of turnover intent

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to apply social exchange theory to predict the effects of procedural and interpersonal justice on turnover intentions. Specifically, it is predicted that organizational commitment mediates the effects of procedural justice on turnover intentions and that supervisory commitment mediates the effect of interpersonal justice on turnover intentions.Design/methodology/approach – Surveys were administered to 212 call center employees to measure the effects of procedural justice, interpersonal justice, organizational commitment, supervisory commitment and turnover intentions. Mediation effects were tested using Baron and Kennys methodology.Findings – Support was found for a partial mediation effect of organizational commitment on the effect of procedural justice on turnover intentions; and for a full mediation effect of supervisory commitment on the effect of interpersonal justice on turnover intentions.Practical implications – Reduction of turnover is a major problem for t...

Opportunity Knocks: Perceptions of Fairness in Employee Benefits

This article considers potential conflicts between the principles of equity, equality and need in perceptions of fairness regarding employee benefits, based on self-interest bias, and makes specific predictions regarding perceptions of distributive justice in specific benefit plans. It includes predictions regarding perceptions of procedural justice. A survey of 497 employees in seven Canadian organizations tested the predictions. Findings indicate that need is still an important criterion for assessing distributive justice in employee benefits, although the survey also found evidence of self-interest bias. Perceptions of procedural justice were found to be significantly higher in plans with extensive communication and employee participation in plan design. Organizations that take a proactive approach to understanding how employees determine their perceptions of procedural and distributive justice in employee benefits, and design a benefit plan accordingly, can potentially increase employees’ perceptions of justice regarding employee benefits and reap associated benefits including improved employee retention, enhanced ability to hire and increased benefit satisfaction.

Downsizing in the public sector: Metro-Toronto's hospitals.

This study has two objectives. First, to predict the outcomes of a public sector downsizing; second to measure effects of downsizing at organizational and inter-organizational levels. Primary data to assess the organizational level effects was collected through interviews with senior executives at two of Metro-Torontos hospitals. Secondary data, to assess the inter-organizational effects, was collected from government documents and media reports. Due to the exploratory nature of the studys objectives a case study method was employed. Most institutional downsizing practices aligned with successful outcomes. Procedures involved at the inter-organizational level aligned with unsuccessful outcomes and negated organizational initiatives. This resulted in an overall alignment with unsuccessful procedures. The implication, based on private sector downsizings, is that the post-downsized hospital system was more costly and less effective.

Dimensionality of organizational justice in a call center context.

Employees in three call centers were surveyed about their perceptions of organizational justice. Four factors were measured: distributive justice, procedural justice, interpersonal justice, and informational justice. Structural equation modeling was employed to test whether a two-, three-, or four-factor model best fit the call center data. A three-factor model of distributive, procedural, and informational justice provided the best fit to these data. The three-factor model that showed the best fit does not conform to any of the more traditional models identified in the organizational justice literature. This implies that the context in which organizational justice is measured may play a role in identifying which justice factors are relevant to employees. Findings add to the empirical evidence on the dimensionality of organizational justice and imply that dimensionality of organizational justice is more context-dependent than previously thought.

Downsizing decisions, intellectual capital, and accounting information

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a new method to account for investments in human capital, which the authors have named investment capitalization. This method uses investments in training and hiring of employees as a surrogate for their intellectual capital, capitalizing and amortizing the investment over its useful life. Investment capitalization is compared to the more conventional Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and the newer intellectual capital accounting methods.Design/methodology/approach – Scenarios comparing the effects of downsizing or organizational performance are used to demonstrate the effects of decisions based on intellectual capitalization and GAAP.Findings – Results of the scenario analysis show that the investement capitalization method causes less destruction of intellectual capital during downsizing decisions than does GAAP.Originality/value – This paper presents a new method of accounting for intellectual capital and demonstates the benefits of this m...

Polarization of Perceived Procedural Justice

This study examined polarization of perceptions of Procedural Justice. Two polarization mechanisms are examined, Persuasive Arguments and Social Comparisons. Participants were students enrolled in a first-year introductory business class. There were 216 participants in the Persuasive Arguments study, 429 in the Social Comparisons study. The average age of all participants was 22.3 yr. (SD = 2.1); 56% were women. Fields of study represented were business, engineering, information technology, and sports. Analysis showed under conditions of low Procedural Justice, polarization effects were only found with the Persuasive Arguments mechanism. Under conditions of high Procedural Justice, polarization effects were only found with Social Comparisons. Implications for group polarization and Procedural Justice theories are considered.

Exploring justice judgment patterns in Asia: a four country multi-group latent class analysis

Abstract We explore workers’ justice judgment patterns to understand how they use information to assess fair treatment at work. Justice judgment patterns are the unique set of information that individuals draw upon and use when evaluating the overall fairness of an entity. Data from four samples of workers from Malaysia, Cambodia, the Philippines, and China were analyzed using a multi-group latent class analysis. Results suggest four classes of justice judgment processes, three of which represent different patterns of heuristic processing. Comprehensive processors use a wide range of information when making justice judgments, while minimalist processors consider a limited range of information. Reward-focused processors focus on distributive justice cues and treatment-focused processors specifically attend to interpersonal justice cues while neglecting distributive justice cues. The latent class structure shared conceptual meaning across countries but the patterns had different rates of representation. Findings suggest that individuals do not always use complete information when assessing how fairly they are treated at work. Many appear to use heuristics that emphasize minimizing information processing, instrumental outcomes, or more relational outcomes. Results and implications are discussed.

Decision Frame and Procedural Justice: Interactive Effects on Perceptions of Distributive Justice

This work examined the effect of procedural justice and item frame on responses to positively and negatively worded survey items. Under conditions of low procedural justice, there is a significant difference in the rating of distributive justice items positively and negatively framed, but not when procedural justice is high. Implications for decision frame theory and biasing of responses to survey items are considered.