James J. Lavelle

Taking a Multifoci Approach to the Study of Justice, Social Exchange, and Citizenship Behavior: The Target Similarity Model†:

An emerging trend within the organizational justice, social exchange, and organizational citizenship behavior literatures is that employees maintain distinct perceptions about, and direct different attitudes and behaviors toward, multiple foci such as the organization, supervisors, and coworkers. However, these multifoci developments have progressed, for the most part, independently of one another. Thus, to gain a more complete conceptualization of the employee experience, this review brings these respective literatures together. Specifically, the authors (a) review and organize multifoci research and theory in justice, social exchange, and citizenship behavior, (b) develop a “target similarity” model to provide a theoretical framework for conceptualizing and integrating multifoci research, and (c) o fer suggestions for future multifoci research.

Fairness in human resource management, social exchange relationships, and citizenship behavior: testing linkages of the target similarity model among nurses in the United States

The current study tests key linkages of the target similarity model by examining relationships among multifoci justice, social exchange, and supervisor ratings of employee citizenship behavior. We found support for the model when examining three different workplace targets simultaneously (i.e., the organization as a whole, supervisors, and workgroup members) using a sample of hospital nurses in the United States. Specifically, we found that: (1) employee perceptions of workgroup fairness, supervisor fairness, and organizational fairness differentially and positively predicted perceived workgroup support (PGS), perceived supervisor support (PSS), and perceived organizational support (POS), respectively and (2) PGS, PSS, and POS differentially and positively predicted citizenship behavior toward the workgroup, toward the supervisor, and toward the organization, respectively. Theoretical and practical implications for the strategic management of human resources are discussed, as are limitations of the study and suggestions for future research.

The effects of internal and external sources of justice on employee turnover intention and organizational citizenship behavior toward clients and workgroup members

Abstract Organizational justice research tends to focus on the effects of fair treatment from organizations or supervisors on employee attitudes and behaviors. Thus, there is a dearth of research on the effects of fair treatment attributable to other parties that employees interact with at work such as coworkers and clients. Controlling for organization-focused and supervisor-focused justice, results from our field study of employees working in a healthcare organization demonstrate that perceptions of client-focused fairness uniquely predicts supervisor ratings of employees organizational citizenship behavior toward clients and that perceptions of workgroup-focused justice uniquely predicts organizational citizenship behavior toward workgroups. Further, we find that client-focused justice perceptions uniquely predict employee turnover intention.