How Organizational Unfairness Impedes Service Employees Needs Fulfillment? The Case of Islamic Banking Industry in Pakistan

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore how organizational unfairness impedes fulfilment of various needs of non-managerial employees at Islamic banks. Methodology: The data were gathered through semi-structured interviews from sixteen non-managerial employees of different fully Islamic bank branches located in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan. Findings: The study findings indicate that issues in the distributive, procedural and interactional justice elements of Islamic banks impedes fulfilment of basic, social, security, self-esteem, and self-actualization needs of non-managerial service employees of Islamic banks and adversely affects their wellbeing. Significance: This research contributes to the literature on organizational fairness by unpacking the ways in which issues in the organizational justice elements impeded non-managerial service employees’ life needs fulfilment. This study investigates the above-mentioned issue from the Islamic banks non-managerial employees’ perspective, which was not empirically investigated earlier. Limitations: The qualitative research findings might lack external validity or generalizability. In the future, a study could investigate this topic through survey research. Second, this research merely investigated how organizational unfairness impedes employees’ life needs. In future, a study could explore the strategies employed by the employees encountering organizational unfairness for resolving the issues relating to stress and other socio-economic aspects. Practical and Social Implications: This study findings provided an avenue to offer a number of practical implications to enhance fairness for non-managerial service employees in Islamic banks.