Procedural injustice in the workplace, sensitivity to befallen injustice, and job satisfaction

Survey data from 295 employees were used for testing two hypotheses: (1) Procedural injustice at work has negative effects on psychosomatic well-being. (2) The impact of procedural injustice depends on the person´s justice sensitivity. Justice sensitivity as well as desired and perceived procedural fairness according to Leventhal´s criteria (consistency, nonpartiality, accuracy, correctability, representativeness) were measured via questionnaire. Job satisfaction, number of sick days during the last six month, and number of days a person felt sick at work during the last six month served as indicators of psychosomatic well-being. The difference between desired and perceived procedural fairness (ought-is discrepancy) was used as a measure of procedural unfairness. Psychosomatic well-being was predicted from the ought-is discrepancy with justice sensitivity serving as a moderator. Hypotheses were tested via moderated regression analyses. In line with the first hypothesis, procedural unfairness had a negative effect on psychosomatic well-being. In partial support of the second hypothesis, justice sensitivity moderated this effect on two measures of psychosomatic well-being.