The Application of Referent Cognitions Theory to Legal-Claiming by Terminated Workers: The Role of Organizational Justice and Anger

Abstract

This research utilizes referent cognitions theory (RCT, Folger, 1993) to investigate the filing of discrimination legal-claims by terminated workers. Specifically, three questions are investigated: (1) whether procedural, distributive, and interactional justice interact to predict discrimination legal-claiming; (2) whether state anger (a reaction to a situation) partially mediates the relationship between the three-way interaction of distributive, procedural, and interactional justice, and legal-claiming; and (3) whether trait anger (a dispositional trait) moderates the relationship between this three-way justice interaction and legal-claiming. Five hundred eighty-three terminated employees were surveyed at unemployment insurance offices on the east coast. The results support predictions that a three-way justice interaction predicts legal-claiming, that state anger is a partial mediator of this relationship, and that trait anger moderates the relationship between the three-way justice interaction and legal-claiming. The implications for organizational justice and RCT are discussed. Further, there is discussion of managerial interventions to reduce legal-claiming.

The psychological effects of centrality bias: an experimental analysis

“…Our prediction for the relationship between centrality bias and procedural fairness perceptions draws on referent cognitions theory which argues that individuals rely on reference comparisons in assessing fairness (Cropanzano and Folger 1989;Goldman 2003). More precisely, this theory suggests that individuals reflect on performance evaluation outcomes by generating mental simulations and comparing the actual outcome with a potential outcome that relies on a procedure, which is considered to be valid (McFarlin and Sweeney 1992;van den Bos and van Prooijen 2001).…”

Relação entre Percepção de Justiça Organizacional e Satisfação no Trabalho

“…Todavia, a correlação entre a justiça interpessoal e informacional apresentou-se como a segunda associação mais forte. Esses resultados podem explicar o fato de alguns pesquisadores, como, por exemplo, Aryee, Budhwar e Chen (2002), Goldman (2003), Nadiri e Tanova (2010) e Ahmadi et al (2012), não considerarem a justiça interpessoal e informacional como dimensões distintas, considerando-as como interacional.…”

“…Todavia, ainda não há consenso entre os estudiosos do assunto sobre quais dimensões constituem o construto da justiça organizacional. Enquanto alguns estudiosos (Alexander & Ruderman, 1987;McFarlin & Sweeney, 1992;Martin & Bennet, 1996) consideram apenas duas dimensões, outros apontam três (Goldman, 2003), quatro (Colquitt, Conlon, Wesson, Porter & Ng, 2001;Souto & Rego, 2003;Rego & Souto, 2004) e até cinco dimensões (Rego, 2000;Rego, 2001;Rego, 2002).…”

Elimination of Gender-Related Employment Disparities Through Statistical Process Control

“…Underscoring this point, human resource management scholars recognize that staffing is but one part of an inter-related human resource system (Becker, Huselid, and Ulrich 2001;Petersen and Saporta, 2004). In addition, the Scorecard also has advantages over gender claim rate data because complaint filing statistics may be driven by factors other than the actual degree of discrimination (Goldman, 2003;Stangor, Swim, Van Allen, and Sechrist, 2002).…”