Perceived organizational justice and work‐related attitudes: a study of Saudi employees
| Published date | 01 January 2012 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/20425961211221633 |
| Pages | 71-88 |
| Date | 01 January 2012 |
| Author | Abdallah M. Elamin |
| Subject Matter | Public policy & environmental management |
Perceived organizational justice
and work-related attitudes:
a study of Saudi employees
Abdallah M. Elamin
Department of Management and Marketing, College of Industrial Management,
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is two-fold: first, to examine the influence of perceived
organizational justice on Saudis’ work-related attitudes, namely, job satisfaction and organizational
commitment. Second, to examine the differential effects of distributive and procedural justice on the
above-mentioned work-related attitudes.
Design/methodology/approach – Using a self-administered questionnaire, 600 Saudi employees
from 24 organizations operating in an Eastern province in Saudi Arabia were surveyed. Correlation
and hierarchical regression analyses were used to examine the hypotheses of the study.
Findings – The paper revealed that justice plays a significant role in influencing Saudi employees’
level of job satisfaction and commitment. An examination of the differential affects of justice revealed
that distributive justice tends to be a stronger predictor of job satisfaction compared to procedural
justice. Moreover, despite the significant positive correlation between procedural justice and
organizational commitment, there was no influence of procedural justice on organizational
commitment when the influence of inter-actional justice and distributive justice had been controlled.
Practical implications – The theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed in
the paper. Recommendations are provided to managers in Saudi organizations to enhance perceptions
of justice in the workplace.
Originality/value – The paper contributes to the knowledge of the topic of organizational justice in
Saudi Arabia, which is under-studied in academia. The paper not only advances the literature
pertaining to organizational justice theo ries by empirically demonstrating the impor tance of
organizational justice for developing positive work outcomes in a non-Western developing context, but
also elucidates the differential effects of distributive and procedural justice on work-related attitudes.
Keywords Saudi Arabia, Employees behaviour, Job satisfaction, Justice, Work-related attitudes,
Saudi employees, Organizational culture
Paper type Research p aper
Introduction
Organizational justice, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment are imp ortant
foci of management research. The concept of organizational justice is important for
understanding and predicting organizational behavior (Hartman et al., 1999). Most
previous studies on organizational justice and its impact on work-related attitudes and
behavior have been conducted in western countries, and the generalizability of these
findings to other parts of the world is questionable (Wong et al., 2006). Moreover, few
studies were conducted in Middle Eastern contexts have examined the influence of
organizational justice on job satisfaction and organizational commitment. For
development of more universal and generalizable theories of justice, therefore, the
nature, significance, and strength of the relationships between organizational justice
and these constructs, should be a subject for in-depth investigations in non-wester n
contexts (Suliman, 2007; Leung and Stephan, 2001). As far as the Saudi Arabia is
concerned, the library search revealed that there is no studies in this fie ld. This is likely
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
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World Journal of Entrepreneurship,
Management and Sustainable
Development
Vol. 8 No.1, 2012
pp. 71-88
rEmeraldGroup Publishing Limited
2042-5961
DOI 10.1108/20425961211221633
71
Perceived
organizational
justice
attributable to several factors such as burgeoning research cost, funding difficulties,
cultural limitations which limit access to adult education (particularly with females),
and data gathering problems that range from sampling to fie ldwork issues (Robertson
et al., 2001).
This study attempts to achieve two objectives. First, to examine the influence of
perceived organizational justice on job satisfaction and organizational commitment of
Saudi employees in 24 organizations operating in the Eastern province of Saudi
Arabia. Second, to examine the differential effects of distributive and procedural justice
on the above-mentioned work-related attitudes for the same sample. The term
organizational justice used in this study to denote the degree to which employees
perceive the overall organizational rules, procedures, and policies that are related to
their work to be fair (Greenberg, 1987). It encompasses thre e components, namely,
distributive justice, procedural justice, and interactional justice (Cropa nzano et al.,
2001; Masterson et al., 2000; McDowall and Fletcher, 2004). Job satisfaction is used to
refer to the degree of positive emotions an employee has toward a job (Kalleberg, 1977;
Locke, 1976). Organizational commitment stands for employees’ interest in, and
connection to, an organization (Hunt et al., 1989; Meyer and Allen, 1997; Mowday et al.,
1979). The study speculates that all components of perceived organizational justice
(i.e. distributive justice, procedural justice, and interactional justice) to be significantly
related to job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. It also speculates that
distributive justice and procedural justice may have differential effects on job
satisfaction and organizational commitment.
The context
Saudi Arabia is an Islamic Middle Eastern developing country with an oil-based
economy, and strong government controls over major economic activities. The
revenues from oil exports have provided the foundations for the accel erated
development of its economy.
Saudi Arabia has a population of over 24 million, approximately 6.5 million of
whom are foreigners. According to the latest study (Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency’s
(SAMA) (2008) Forty-Fourth Annual Report), the total number of workers in Saudi
Arabia is 8,229,654 including 6,959,490 men and 1,270,164 women. The local Saudi
labor force is largely employed by the public sector and overwhelmingly male (Madhi
and Barrientos, 2003). There are rigid boundaries in social roles and expectations for
women compared to men in Saudi Arabia and thus there are fewer women in Saudi
workforce (8.1 percent, SAMA, 2008) and engage in sectors that are traditionally
female: teaching and nursing. The majority of local Saudi workforce is young, under
the age of 40 and well educated (Al-Ghahtani et al., 2007). In 1990s, governm ent
concern to increase participation of local Saudi wo rkers in the private sector and to
reduce its reliance on foreign workers led to the adoption of policies aimed at
substituting foreign workers for local Saudi workers. These policies are known as
Saudization and include restrictions on employment of fo reign workers in the public
sector, the requirement that private firms reduce their foreign workers by 5 percent
annually and making some occupations open to Saudi nationals only (Sadi and
Al-Buraey, 2009; Madhi and Barrientos, 2003).
The Saudi Arabia is a conservative country where Islamic teachings and Arabian
cultural values are strictly followed. The country falls along a spectr um of cultural
characteristics of GCC countries, distinctly tribal, conservative in its adherence to
Islam and influenced by significant exposure to the west (Dadfar et al., 2003). Mo reover,
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