THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF ORGANIZATIONAL JUSTICE PERCEPTIONS: A SOCIAL NETWORKS APPROACH.

Abstract

We argue that organizational justice perceptions are socially constructed through workplace interactions. We examine the relationship between social networks and similarity in distributive, procedural and interactional justice perceptions between employees in a field setting. Results suggest that the most likely conduits of social influence regarding justice perceptions are interpersonal affect networks in an organization, rather than more task-related networks. These affective networks are most closely related to the most ambiguous justice perception (interactional justice), but not to the least ambiguous justice perceptions (procedural and distributive justice). We also found that justice perceptions that generated the greatest amount of affect in this organization (interactional justice) were related to the broadest spectrum of affective relationships (i.e., affect-neutral ties, acquaintances, and friends), while justice perceptions that generated little affect (e.g., procedural justice) were related only to affect-neutral relationships.