Inclusion and affective well-being: roles of justice perceptions

Date04 June 2018
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/PR-03-2017-0078
Pages805-820
Published date04 June 2018
AuthorHuong Le,Zhou Jiang,Yuka Fujimoto,Ingrid Nielsen
Subject MatterHR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM
Inclusion and affective well-being:
roles of justice perceptions
Huong Le
Department of Management, Deakin Business School, Deakin University,
Geelong, Australia
Zhou Jiang
Department of Management, Deakin Business School, Deakin University,
Melbourne, Australia
Yuka Fujimoto
Business School, Sunway University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and
Department of Management, Deakin Business School, Deakin University,
Geelong, Australia, and
Ingrid Nielsen
Department of Management, Deakin Business School, Deakin University,
Geelong, Australia
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating roles of procedural justice and distributive
justice in the organizational inclusion-affective well-being relationship.
Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 253 Australian employees using an online
survey. The study used confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling to analyze the data.
Findings Organizational inclusion was positively related to both distributive justice and procedural justice.
The relationship between organizational inclusion and affective well-being was mediated by both distributive
justice and procedural justice.
Research limitations/implications The cross-sectional design may have limited the empirical
inferences; however, the proposed model was based on robust theoretical contentions, thus mitigating the
limitation of the design. Data were collected from a single organization, thus limiting generalizability.
Practical implications Implementation of inclusion training activities at organizational, group, and
individual levels is important to enhance perceptions of organizational inclusion and subsequently improve
employee affective well-being.
Originality/value Based onthe group engagement model andgroup-value model of justice,this paper adds
to the literature by demonstrating two mediating mechanisms driving the organizational inclusion-affective
well-being relationship.
Keywords Quantitative, Distributive justice, Advanced statistical, Well-being, Procedural justice,
Organizational inclusion
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Based on the group engagement model (Tyler and Blader, 2003) and group-value model of
justice (Lind and Tyler, 1988; Tyler and Lind, 1992), this study examines the relationship
between organizational inclusion and affective well-being. Creating inclusive climates is
critical to the workplace given its relationship with employee well-being. We argue that such
an inclusive climate enhances affective well-being because it can lead employees to perceive
fairness in the organization. Organizational inclusion denotes the degreeto which employees
feel a part of critical organizational processes such as access to information and resources,
involvementin work groups, and ability to influencethe decision-making process(MorBarak
Personnel Review
Vol. 47 No. 4, 2018
pp. 805-820
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/PR-03-2017-0078
Received 16 March 2017
Revised 16 October 2017
Accepted 10 December 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0048-3486.htm
The first two authors contributed equally to this paper.
805
Inclusion and
affective
well-being
and Cherin, 1998, p. 48). Inclusion is also about having a voice (Sabharwal, 2014),
belongingness(Shore et al., 2011; van Prooijen et al., 2004), and the individualfeeling of being
accepted and valued in the workplace (Pelled et al., 1999; Roberson, 2006). It is often viewed
from a workplace environment perspective (Fujimoto et al., 2014), which suggests that
inclusive work environments may drive employeesperceptions about the organization and
thus influence their affective states (Leary and Downs, 1995).
Although Findler et al. (2007) found that workplace inclusion tends to increase
employeeswell-being, their focus was on general well-being (depression and strain) and
stress (role conflict, role ambiguity, and role overload) that mix psychological or affective
aspects with physical health, and therefore do not enable a clear understanding of the
unique contribution of inclusion to the affective component of well-being. This paper
advances this area by specifically focusing on affective well-being (i.e. a workers positive
psychological state of mind). This is not only due to the lack of empirical evidence on
affective well-being but also because it is a critical factor that helps reduce negative
work attitudes such as job dissatisfaction (Colquitt et al., 2001) and turnover intentions
(Simons and Roberson, 2003), and prevent negative work behaviors such as absenteeism
and poor performance (e.g. Ybema and van den Bos, 2010).
Building on previous studies that have shown that inclusion can positively affect
well-being (Greenhaus et al., 1990; Mor Barak et al., 1998), this study models two mediating
mechanisms proposed to drive the influence of inclusion on well-being. Prior literature
suggests thatwhen employees feel that they are includedin important workplace activitiesor
processes, they are likely to perceive fairness (Findler et al., 2007), which facilitates the
development of well-being (e.g. Elovainioet al., 2005; Le et al., 2016; Ybema and van den Bos,
2010). According to the group engagement model, which is an expansion of the group-value
model of justice (Lind and Tyler, 1988), the perceived fairness resulting from inclusive
climates can shape employeessocial identity and cooperation in the organization and foster
their positive state of mind (Tyler and Blader, 2003). Consistent with this perspective, we
argue that justice perceptions mediate the relationship between organizational inclusion and
affective well-being. Among the three dimensions (distributive, procedural, and interactional)
of organizational justice, procedural and distributive justice are particularly relevant to
organization-oriented variables, whereas interactional justice (both interpersonal and
informational components) is more relevant to variables related or specific to supervisors
(Cropanzanoet al., 2002; Jiang et al., 2016). Becauseorganizational inclusionis an organization-
oriented variable that is referencedto the organization or systemas a whole, we focus only on
the mediating roles of distributive and procedural justice.
This paper has novel contributions to the literature in two aspects. First, this study
identifies a new antecedent (i.e. organizational inclusion) of employee affective well-being.
Despite a variety of factors that have been theorized to influence affective well-being,
empirical studiesare still yet to demonstrate specifically whether organizational inclusioncan
improve affective well-being. This examination is particularly critical for the workplace
because it will advance and strengthen our understanding of how important inclusion is for
both the employee andthe organization, and thus prompt employers to revisit their inclusion
policies and practices (Shore et al., 2011). Second, this study extends justice theories such as
the group engagement theory (Tyler and Blader, 2003) and the group-value model of justice
(Lind and Tyler, 1988), by establishing the justice-based mechanisms underlying the
inclusion-well-being relationship. Stepping beyond prior studies that focus on the simple
interrelations between inclusion- and well-being-related variables (e.g. Correa-Velez et al.,
2010), these mediation mechanisms expand our theoretical and empirical insights regarding
why inclusiveclimates can benefit employeesaffective well-being.In this way, this study also
sheds light on future research that is required to further understand additional mediation
processes that transmit the effects of inclusion to employee well-being.
806
PR
47,4

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