Organizational justice and employee acceptance of management decisions: the mediating role of perceived organizational adaptation to hindering external conditions

Purpose

Previous research has demonstrated that the experience of fair treatment (organizational justice) motivates workers to accept their leaders’ decisions, even when these decisions are viewed as unfavorable. We aim at extending these findings by testing for mediating effects of the perceived impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the organization as a particular example of a hindering external condition. We expected that employees’ perception of management response to the pandemic would partly mediate the effect of organizational fairness on employee compliance.

Design/methodology/approach

In Study 1 we surveyed a nationally representative (N = 1,001) sample of employees. In Study 2 we used a representative sample (N = 250) of those workers who were laid off during the pandemic.

Findings

We show that an organization’s perceived ability to adapt to the pandemic partly mediated the relationship between organizational justice and acceptance of management decisions. Employees who were treated fairly were more ready to accept management decisions and viewed their organization as better prepared for hindering external conditions such as COVID-19. Their perceptions of organization’s ability to adapt partly mediated the effect of organizational justice on decision acceptance.

Originality/value

Our study is among the first to identify a link between organizational fairness and organizational adaptation. We show that employees perceive fair organizations as better prepared for external shocks.