THE ROLE OF DISTRIBUTIVE, PROCEDURAL, INTERPERSONAL and informational organizational justice dimensions ON BURNOUT PREDICTION

ABSTRACT This study investigated the role of organizational justice dimensions (distributive, procedural, interpersonal and informational) as predictors of a burnout variable, emotional exhaustion (EE). Seventy workers (55.7%, males, 81.4% from private companies) completed a social-demographic questionnaire, the emotional exhaustion subscale of the Maslach burnout inventory and the justice perceptions scale. Bivariate and partial correlation analyses indicated that: among justice dimensions, the interpersonal presented the strongest correlation with EE followed by the distributive dimension; the informational dimension was not significantly associated with burnout; when the distributive and interpersonal dimensions effects were statistically controlled, procedural dimension did not correlate significantly with EE. Gender differences were found. For males, interpersonal dimension was the only significant predictor of EE. Among females, the single significant predictor was distributive dimension. On the basis of such results it is suggested that companies settled in the south of Rio de Janeiro State consider the possible positive effect of a polite and respectful treatment on employee’s psychological health. In the present study, such a practice had a better effect on burnout than a fair distribution of outcomes/rewards. In addition, the above suggested practice of interpersonal justice involves low costs and may promote well-being and psychological health among organizational members. Finally, future studies are suggested.