Perspectives on organizational justice: Concept clarification, social context integration, time and links with morality

Organizational justice is concerned with people’s fairness perceptions in organizations and has been a popular field of study in the social sciences for at least 25 years. This paper reviews the core concepts, models and questions of organizational justice research. Four research areas that are particularly critical for the future of the field will be highlighted: concept clarification, social context integration, time and links with morality. These areas have received increased attention lately, but there are still relatively few empirical studies and theoretical frameworks that grapple with these issues. Concept clarification is vital for improved consistency of the field and for internal validity of studies. Situating organizational justice in social contexts and in time will be crucial to improve external validity and the usability of organizational justice findings in organizations. Understanding the links between morality and justice at an individual level, and at the organizational and societal levels is necessary if justice researchers want to live up to the promise of their field for society. For each of these four areas, recent developments will be reviewed and avenues for future research discussed.