Organisational Justice and Police Job Involvement in Haryana, India

DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12384
Published date01 December 2020
Date01 December 2020
The Howard Journal Vol59 No 4. December 2020 DOI: 10.1111/hojo.12384
ISSN 2059-1098, pp. 442–464
Organisational Justice and Police Job
Involvement in Haryana, India
HANIF QURESHI, ERIC G. LAMBERT and JAMES FRANK
Hanif Qureshi is Inspector General of Police, Law and Order, Haryana Police
Agency, Haryana, India; Eric G. Lambert is Professor, Department of
Criminal Justice, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, USA; James Frank is
Professor, School of Criminal Justice, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati,
OH, USA
Abstract: High job involvement has been shown to result in many favourable outcomes,
including higher job satisfaction, increased work performance, and improved life satisfac-
tion. Organisational justice, which includes the concepts of distributive and procedural
justice, refers to the perception that the employing organisation treats employees in a fair
and just manner. This study used survey data from 827 police officers from the Indian
state of Haryana to explore how distributive and procedural justice affect job involve-
ment. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis indicated that both components
of procedural justice (promotions and evaluations) were positively related to, and signifi-
cant predictors of,job involvement; however, distributive justice did not have a significant
effect in the multivariate analysis. We examine the policy implications of these findings
towards achieving the ends of improved organisational performance.
Keywords: distributive justice; India; job involvement; law enforcement offi-
cers; police; procedural justice
Job involvement is associated with higher job satisfaction and organisa-
tional commitment (Adams, King and King 1996; Lambert 2008). Job in-
volvement also motivates employees and leads to higher performance (Ek-
mekçi 2011; Hackman and Lawler 1971; Pfeffer 1994). Workers with high
job involvement are more independent and self-confident, and they are
more likely to work in accordance with the expectations of the manage-
ment (Chen and Chiu 2009). Organisations that ignore employee job in-
volvement do so at their own peril (Diefendorff et al. 2002).
Job involvement refers to the cognitive (psychological) identification
with the job (Kanungo 1982a, 1982b). It is linked to several benefits for
both employees and organisations. The positive effects of job involve-
ment on motivation were enumerated by Hackman and Lawler (1971).
In addition, a meta-analysis found that job involvement was associated
with higher work performance, job satisfaction, organisational commitment,
442
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2020 The Howard League and John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK
The Howard Journal Vol59 No 4. December 2020
ISSN 2059-1098, pp. 442–464
evaluations by supervisors, and life satisfaction, as well as lower job stress,
work-family conflict, absenteeism, and turnover intent/turnover (Brown
1996). Job involvement has also been linked to workers feeling more com-
petent and becoming more successful, having higher job satisfaction, in-
creased organisational commitment, greater work engagement and pro-
ductivity, lower absenteeism, and lowered likelihood of quitting (Adams,
King and King 1996; Blau and Boal 1989; DeCarufel and Schaan 1990;
Elloy, Everett and Flynn 1992; Lambert 2008; Lambert and Paoline 2010;
Paoline and Lambert 2012; Saks 2006).
The importance of police job involvement has also been highlighted
by several authors. Among Canadian police officers, job involvement was
positively correlated with job satisfaction, organisational commitment, and
work performance (DeCarufel and Schaan 1990). Among US Midwestern
police officers, job involvement was significantly correlated with higher
organisational commitment and lower turnover intent (McElroy, Morrow
and Wardlow 1999). In another study of US Midwestern police, tenure
was negatively associated with officers’ job involvement (Hazer and Al-
vares 1981). In a study of New York police officers, college-educated,
older, and supervisory officers were found to have higher job involvement
than younger,non-supervisory officers without a college degree (Lefkowitz
1974). Job involvement’s importance has been highlighted in other con-
texts. Empirical research has also examined several outcomes of interest
related to job involvement as an antecedent. Job involvement was posi-
tively associated with reduced levels of all three dimensions of burnout in
terms of emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation, and reduced sense of
accomplishment (Lambert et al. 2018b). This has important implications
for reform of the Indian police. The average Indian police officer works
long hours and is at risk of experiencing burnout. If police administrators
and policymakers can improve job involvement, officers are less likely to
burn out while simultaneously having higher performance.
Considering the positive effects of job involvement in the organisational
literature generally and the policing literature specifically, assessing the
impact of factors that (i) could potentially increase officer job involvement,
and (ii) are within the control of law enforcement agencies, is important.
The present study addresses this concern by examining the relationship
between organisational justice and job involvement, while controlling for
the influence of worker characteristics. Organisational justice refers to
the perception that the employing organisation treats employees in a fair
and just manner (Greenberg 1990a, 1990b). While there is no guaran-
tee that employee perceptions will be influenced, organisational justice
can be influenced by policies and practices within the control of police
administrators and supervisors. Finally, similar to the job involvement
literature, positive perceptions of organisational justice have been found
to increase officer effectiveness, satisfaction, and commitment, and reduce
negative outcomes, such as misconduct and withdrawal (Conlon, Meyer
and Nowakowski 2005; Myhill and Bradford 2013; Qureshi et al. 2017;
Trinkner, Tyler and Goff 2016; Wolfe and Piquero 2011).
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2020 The Howard League and John Wiley & Sons Ltd

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