Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1408665

Perceived Organizational Justice, Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intentions: A Co-relational Study

Kuldeep Kumar (UGC-JRF) Dr. Gayatri Gupta Lect. in Psychology Principal Trikuta Degree College Trikuta Degree College Jammu Jammu E-mail: kkmalhotra1@yahoo.co.in Ph. 0191-2594262

Abstract

The present study aims to study the Perceived Organizational justice, Job satisfaction and Turnover Intention of male (N = 26) and female (N = 26) lecturers of various private colleges of Jammu district. The sample was selected using random sampling technique and data was collected personally. Results indicated a significant difference in Perceived Organizational Justice, Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intention of male and female lecturers. Female lecturers were low on Justice Perceptions and Turnover Intentions and high on job satisfaction as compared to male lecturers of the college. There was a significant positive correlation between Perceived Organizational justice and Job satisfaction whereas significant negative correlation was found between Perceived Organizational justice and Turnover Intention; Job satisfaction and Turnover Intention. Keywords: Perceived Organizational justice, Job satisfaction and Turnover Intention

Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1408665

Perceived Organizational Justice, Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intentions: A Co-relational Study

Introduction In general organizational contexts have undergone fundamental changes. The prevalence of long-term relational psychological contracts, based on a job for life in return for loyalty, is diminishing (Rousseau, 1995). Instead, the prevalence of a growing number of short-term contracts and portfolio workers, combined with increasing employee mobility, has been observed. At the same time, the value of human capital has increasingly been recognized and it has been suggested that organizations should become platforms for individuals, as opposed to individuals becoming resources for organizations (Patterson, 2001, p. 384). Perceived Organizational justice Employees in any organization are important because their attitudes and behaviors play a vital role in the quality of service provided by them. Customer satisfaction and customers' perceptions of service quality are significantly influenced by the attitudes and behaviors of service employees (Bitner, Booms, & Tetreault, 1990; Schneider & Bowen, 1993). The interaction between employees and manager in service delivery is essential to the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of customers (Bitner, Booms, & Tetreault, 1990). In this regard, employees are primarily responsible for providing a sustainable competitive advantage for the organization. Therefore, success of an organization depends on managing and retaining employees (Woods, 1992). Employee turnover is particularly important in the private organizations because, turnover is critical and costly (Bonn & Forbringer, 1992). Woods and MacCauley (1988) describe both the tangible and intangible costs of the turnover decision. One of the most critical intangible costs is the loss of employee morale for those employees who choose to remain with the organization. This result in the poor morale of employees who may be overworked, and can, in turn, effect the level of service provided. Therefore, it is imperative that management understand the specific dimensions that help shape employees' attitudes toward their jobs (Rogers, Clow, & Kash, 1994). When employees react to the way they are treated at work, their motivation to respond cannot be understood adequately without taking into account two separate notions of fairness: distributive justice and procedural justice (Folger & Konovsky, 1989; Greenberg, 1986). Adams (1965) conceptualized fairness by stating that employees determine whether they have been treated fairly at work by comparing their own payoff ratio of outcomes (such as pay or status) to inputs (such as effort or time) to the ratio of their co-workers. This is called distributive justice, and it presents employees' perceptions about the fairness of managerial decisions relative to the distribution of outcomes such as pay, promotions, etc (Folger & Konovsky, 1989). In contrast, procedural justice focuses on the fairness of the manner in which the decision-making process is conducted (Folger & Konovsky, 1989). In other words, the focus shifts from what was decided to how the decision was made (Cropanzano & Folger, 1991).

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Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1408665

Justice perceptions also have been linked to important outcome variables (Dailey & Kirk, 1992; Folger & Konovsky, 1989; Martin & Bennett, 1996; McFarlin & Sweeney, 1992). For instance, perceptions of procedural justice are negatively related to intentions to quit (Dailey & Kirk, 1992), significantly correlate with organizational commitment (Folger & Konovsky, 1989; Martin & Bennett, 1996), and produce high subordinates' evaluation of supervisors (McFarlin & Sweeney, 1992). In other words, if employees perceive that the decision making process is fair, they are less likely to form an intention to quit. On the other hand, distributive justice perceptions are associated with pay raise satisfaction (Folger & Konovsky, 1989), and tend to be a strong predictor of job satisfaction (Martin & Bennett, 1996; McFarlin & Sweeney, 1992). Greenberg (1990) also reports that organizational justice, which refers to people's perceptions of the fairness of treatment received from organizations, is important as a basic requirement for the effective functioning of organizations.

Job Satisfaction Job satisfaction or Employee Satisfaction (also referred to as morale) is one of the most used variables in Organizational Behavior. It is an employee's attitudinal response to his or her organization. As an attitude, job satisfaction is conceptualized as consisting of evaluative, cognitive and affective components. The Evaluative Component- An individual's overall response to the employing organization is summarized in the evaluative component. It represents dislike vs. like for the organization. The Cognitive Component- An individual's perceptions, opinion, beliefs and expectations regarding the organization are the focus of his or her cognitions. Employees hold cognitions about each of the four major inducement systems. Cognitions in which the individual perceives that his or her expectations have been met generally lead to positive evaluations. Additionally, positive evaluations are more likely when cognitions (expectations) support a positive and secure future with the organization. The Affective Component- This represents the feeling evoked by the organization. Does thinking about and association with the organization evoke pleasurable or uncomfortable feelings; feelings of anger or joy; feelings of security or stress; feelings of affirmation or invalidation? In general, positive affect results from information, feedback, and situations that affirms or reinforces the individual's self worth and self-concept, while negative affect is evoked by invalidating situations. Self worth is validated when individuals feel accepted as values members of the organization and their competencies and core values are affirmed. When individuals are in a positive affect state while working, they tend to evaluate the organization positively.

Turnover intention The conceptual definition for turnover intentions is the relative strength of an individual's intent to leave the organization. It is an outcome variable in this study, and is operationally defined by three single indicators: thinking of quitting, intent to search, and intent to quit (Hom and Griffeth, 1991).

The present study attempts to explore the relationship between perceived organizational justice, job satisfaction and intention to quit. Both job satisfaction and intention to quit

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were expected to correlate significantly with perceived organizational justice. Those who perceive justice in their organization are more likely to feel satisfied with their job and feel less likely to leave and feel more committed to their job.

Significance of the study: The current study will provide the administrators and policy makers with insights into the relationship between perceived organizational justice and work attitudes and the formations of employees' justice perceptions, and with insights into how to manage employees using organizational justice to draw positive attitudinal and behavioral reactions from employees. The present study will help them better understand how to retain valuable employees, increase employees' commitment to and satisfaction with their work, reduce employee turnover, and improve the performance of the employees.

Objectives: 1. To study the Perceived Organizational justice, Job satisfaction and Turnover intention of male and female lecturers of various private colleges of Jammu district. 2. To study the relationship between organizational justice perceptions and the job satisfaction of employees. 3. To study the relationship between organizational justice perceptions and the turnover intentions of employees. 4. To study the relationship between job satisfaction and the employees turnover intentions.

Hypotheses: 1. There will be a significant difference in the Perceived Organizational justice, Job satisfaction and Turnover intention of male and female lecturers of various private colleges of Jammu district. 2. There will be a significant relationship between organizational justice perceptions and the job satisfaction of employees. 3. There will be a significant relationship between organizational justice perceptions and the turnover intentions of employees. 4. There will be a significant relationship between job satisfaction and the employees turnover intentions.

Methodology Sample: Sample for the present study consisted of lecturers teaching in various private colleges of Jammu district. A total of 52 lecturers were selected randomly. To control the effect of gender 26 males and 26 females were selected. The mean age of the participants is 32.

Variables: Independent Variable: Gender Dependent Variable: Perceived Organizational Justice, Job Satisfaction and Intention to Quit

Tools used: Distributive Justice Index Perceptions of distributive justice will be measured with the Distributive Justice Index, developed by Price and Mueller (1996). All reliabilities reported have been above .90, and the scale has shown discriminant validity in relation to job satisfaction and organizational commitment (Moorman, 1991). Procedural Justice Scale Perceptions of procedural justice will be measured using 15 item scale developed by Niehoff and Moorman (1993). Moorman (1999) has reported reliabilities above .90. Job satisfaction Job satisfaction was measured using five facet items from the Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS; Hackman & Oldham, 1975). Coefficient alpha from 6,930 employees working on 876 jobs in 56 organizations has reported highs ranging from .64 to .87.

Turnover intention The turnover intentions scale was developed as a part of the Michigan Organization Assessment Questionnaire (Cammann, Fichman, Jenkins, and Klesh, 1979). They reported an internal consistency of 0.83 for the scale.

Results and discussion: All statistical analyses were computed using SPSS version 12.0 for Windows.

Descriptive statistics Participants mean perceived organizational justice was above the scale midpoint (mean rating 5.43, SD=0.74). Participants were on average satisfied with their job (mean rating 4.74, SD=1.68). However, they were low on intention to quit (mean rating 3.82, SD=1.65).

TABLE I Case Summaries

Gender Variables

Perceived Organizational

Justice Job

satisfaction Turnover Intentions

Female N 26 26 26 Mean 98.6538 67.7692 7.2308 Std. Deviation 4.61252 3.98304 2.19650 Male N 26 26 26 Mean 111.5000 56.0000 14.0769 Std. Deviation 8.35344 3.81576 1.85306 Total N 52 52 52 Mean 105.0769 61.8846 10.6538 Std. Deviation 9.31128 7.08673 3.99943

TABLE II Comparison of means on Perceived Organizational justice, Job satisfaction and Turnover intention of male and female lecturers

Variable Variance F Sig. t df Sig. (2-tailed) Perceived Organizational Justice

Equal variances assumed

7.456 .009 -6.864 50 .000**

Job satisfaction

Equal variances assumed

.000 1.000 10.880 50 .000**

Turnover Intentions

Equal variances assumed

.492 .486 -12.147 50 .000**

** Difference is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

TABLE III Correlations

Perceived Organizational

Justice Job

satisfaction Turnover Intentions

Perceived Organizational Justice

1 0.562(**) -0.571(**)

Job satisfaction 0.562(**) 1 -0.711(**)

Turnover Intentions -0.571(**) -0.711(**) 1

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Table-I shows that female have lower Perceived Organizational Justice (Mean=98.65, SD=4.61), higher job satisfaction (Mean=67.76, SD=3.98) and lower turnover intentions (Mean=7.23, SD=2.19) as compared to male Perceived Organizational Justice (Mean=111.50, SD=8.35), job satisfaction (Mean=56.00, SD=3.81), and turnover intentions (Mean=14.07, SD=1.87). Females have low Perceived Organizational Justice and turnover intentions as compared to male employees and the difference is statistically significant at 0.01 level of significance. Moreover, females have high score on job satisfaction as compared to their male counterparts and the difference is statistically significant at 0.01 level of significance. (Refer Table-II)

There was significant difference (t = -6.864, p< 0.01) between the mean scores of Perceived Organizational Justice of male and female lecturers. It indicates that males have higher perceptions of justice than females.

There was significant difference (t = 10.88, p< 0.01) between the mean scores of Job Satisfaction of male and female lecturers. It indicates that females have higher Job Satisfaction than males.

There was significant difference (t = -12.14, p< 0.01) between the mean scores of Turnover Intentions job satisfaction of male and female lecturers. It indicates that males have higher Turnover Intentions than females.

Going through the Table-III it was found that:

(1) There is a significant correlation (r = 0.562) between organizational justice perceptions and the job satisfaction of the employees. It was concluded that there is a true and positive correlation between organizational justice perceptions and the job satisfaction of the employees.

(2) There is a significant correlation (r = -0.571) between organizational justice perceptions and the turnover intentions of employees. It was concluded that there is a true and negative correlation between organizational justice perceptions and the turnover intentions of employees. Thus as the justice perception in the organization increases, the employees intention to quit decreases.

(3) There is a significant correlation (r = -0.711) between job satisfaction and the employees turnover intentions. It was concluded that there is a true and negative correlation between job satisfaction and the employees turnover intentions. Thus, employees who are satisfied with their job are less likely to quit the organization.

Conclusions:

1. Females have low Perceived Organizational Justice and turnover intentions as compared to male employees.

2. Females have high score on job satisfaction as compared to their male counterparts.

3. There is a positive and true correlation between organizational justice perceptions and the job satisfaction of the employees.

4. There is a negative and true correlation between organizational justice perceptions and the turnover intentions of employees.

5. There is a negative and true correlation between job satisfaction and the employees turnover intentions.

Limitations of the study: 1. The study was limited to the lecturers of the college. Other employees should also

be included in the study to enhance our understanding of the effects of perceived organizational justice on job satisfaction and turnover intentions.

2. The study included only private colleges of the Jammu district. 3. The random sample was limited to 52 lecturers only.

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