International Journal of Pure and Applied Management Sciences;

Vol. 2016.1.2; pp. 22-28, ISSN: 2456-4516

Interactional Justice: A key to Organization Citizenship Behavior

*Dr. Nidhi
Assistant Professor, U.I.L.M.S., Gurgaon,
**Krishna

Kumari

(Correspondent author) Research scholar U.I.L.M.S, Gurgaon,

.
Date of revised paper submission: 15/12/2016; Date of
acceptance: 28/12/2016
Date of publication: 31/12/2016; *First Author/Corresponding Author; Paper ID:
MS16204.
Reviewers: Dr. P. N. Mishra; Dr. Shabi Raza (India).

Abstract
The quality of behavior an employee receives in organization defines his/her resulting
behavior in organization. In other words employees produce behavior according to the perception
what type of behavior he get in organization. Present study was purposed to find the relationship
between interactional justice and organization citizenship behavior among employees. It is a review
based study. Previous literatures, articles research paper are the base of the paper. Study found a
significant relationship exists between international justice and organization citizenship behavior.
Keywords: Organization behavior, Organization citizenship behavior, Organizational justice,
Interactional justice, Employee behavior.
1. Introduction
Organization is a place where employee wants to works if it provides equality to
employee in form of decision, procedure interaction and information. Employees are more concern
about their right in form of good treatment, fair remuneration, and fair policy for workers equally
chance of career progress. All this define under the study of organization justice. The four factor
model of organization justice includes distributive justice, procedural justice, interactional justice and
informational justice. The interactional justice refers to the quality of treatment employee receives in
organization. Perception of organization justice is cause of various behavioral outcomes in form of
satisfaction, commitment, motivation etc.
Third component of organization justice is interactional justice. Interactional justice
refers the quality of interpersonal treatment an employee receives in organization. Study of
international justice was center of many researchers as it describes the interpersonal relationship
22 | P a g e
h t t p s : / / w w w. i j o p a a r. o r g /

International Journal of Pure and Applied Management Sciences;

Vol. 2016.1.2; pp. 22-28, ISSN: 2456-4516
between employee and employer. Good superior subordinate relationship is the key of healthy
working environment.
A superior or manager works as leader for employee. Their behavior reflects the
management philosophy in terms of organization ethics and values. If the manager display good
behavior it work as a role model for employee and their behavior becomes motive for employee to
show similar behavior. Interactional justice in organization works as a motivator for employee.
Employee perceives themselves important for organization and work beyond formal duties to increase
organization efficiency. This extra work behavior above the formal duty refers as organization
citizenship behavior. Present study tries to examine the relationship between international justice in
organization and organization citizenship behavior among employees.
2. Literature review
OCB is that kind of behavior which is above the formal job duty. OCB is socially
desirable behaviors, but the behavior is depends on certain motives that cause employee to show such
type of behavior. Presence of OCB among employees increases the organization effectiveness. It has
been found that if employees have faith in management and perceive fair treatment in organization
than the probability of OCB will be more. It can be said that OCB is dependent on various variables.
People show OCB because of certain motive in organization. It was found that Achievement,
affiliation, and power are not the only motive for desire OCB, but good soldier syndrome is also
very necessary for the OCB (Min-Huei.Chien).
Public sector employee show high level of organization citizenship behavior as
compare to private sector employee. This difference is due to the effect of organization
competitiveness. Private sector employee due to high organization competitiveness show less
organization citizenship behavior. Comparatively public sector employee show high citizenship
behavior because of the low organization competitiveness (Sharma, J. P., Bajpai, N. and Holani, U.,
2011).
OCB is the cause of many individual level and organizational level behavioral
outcomes, such as at individual level, OCB among employee leads to good performance, reduce
turnover, reduce absenteeism. On organizational level due to OCB the productivity, efficiency and
profitability increase that leads to customer satisfaction and reduce cost (Podsakoff, N. P., et al.,
2009). Organization citizenship behavior is affected by the individual attitude behavior and individual
perception of organization. Organization citizenship behavior is affected by the perception of
organization justice.
There is no single antecedence for OCB, instead there are number of factor
contributing the OCB among employees. Some of the factors are job satisfaction and organizational
23 | P a g e
h t t p s : / / w w w. i j o p a a r. o r g /

International Journal of Pure and Applied Management Sciences;

Vol. 2016.1.2; pp. 22-28, ISSN: 2456-4516
commitment, role perceptions, leadership behaviors and LMX, fairness perceptions, and individual
dispositions, motivational theories and employee age (Jahangir, N., Akbar, M. M. and Haq, M., 2004).
Perception of organizational justice are found to be determinant of OCB (Bahrami, M.A., et. al.,
2014)
The antecedent of OCB was employee satisfaction, perception of fairness,
commitment and supportive behavior of leaders and managers. If employee have role clarity at job it
will positively affect the OCB. It was found that male and female employees at different year of
experiences at job are indifference in OCB. Supportive behavior from leaders/managers and from the
organization is the strong factor to influence the organization citizenship behavior. Thus if employee
perceives the positive interactional support from the superior officer there will be more tendencies to
show OCB (Podsakoff, P. M., et. al., 2000).
The dimensions of OCB are altruism, courtesy and conscientiousness (Organ 1998).
Employee of public sector organization show more organization citizenship behavior than employees
of private sector organization. The difference of level of citizenship behavior was characterized by
author as the different level of competitiveness in public and private sector organization. Because the
competitiveness is more in private sector organization, its employee shows less organization
citizenship behavior. On the other hand public sector employees are motivated by serving society.
Employee those are satisfied with job show more organization citizenship behavior. It can conclude
that there is positive correlation between employee job satisfaction and organization citizenship
behavior (Sharma, J. P., Bajpai, N. and Holani, U., 2011).
Positive and negative attitude, self-serving motives, personality, leadership, task
characteristics, group and organization are important antecedent of OCB and it consequences are
positive and negative effects on individual and organization outcomes. The study of OCB is in interest
of many scholars, it was found that self motivated antecedents and negative effect of OCB are the key
are of research (Berber, A., & Rofcanin, Y., 2012)
OCB is beneficial for both employees as well as for the organization as it convert the
human resource into the useful social capital that improve the organization efficiency. Employee
attitude towards organization, organization working environment and employee engagement leads to
job are the important determent of OCB in organization. If employee perception about the
organization justice is positive that it leads to increase employee engagement (EBRAHIMI, R., et. al,
2013)
Perception of organization justice are (Distributive, Procedural and Interactional
justice) the important antecedent of organization citizenship behavior and its dimensions such as
conscientiousness, civic virtue and sportsmanship. It was found that perception of procedural justice
24 | P a g e
h t t p s : / / w w w. i j o p a a r. o r g /

International Journal of Pure and Applied Management Sciences;

Vol. 2016.1.2; pp. 22-28, ISSN: 2456-4516
affects organization citizenship behavior more than the other two types of perceived organizational
justice because participants attached more importance to the fairness of procedures used in making
decisions (Songr H. N., Basm, N. and een, H., 2008)
Organization citizenship behaviors are related with the social capital of employee.
Social capital leads to corporation between employees. Employee citizenship behavior was beneficial
as it make employee committed in organization (EBRAHIMI, R., et. al, 2013)
The determents of OCB are HR practices, Job embedded and employee engagement.
OCB in organization leads to effectiveness of organization. There has been a positive and negative
consequence of OCB. By increasing the OCB manager can reduce the turnover of employee, increase
employee retention, satisfaction, but it also leads to role conflict, imbalance in work life balance and
create more stress among employees(Dash, S. and Pradhan, R. K., 2014).
3. Interactional justice
Interactional justice represents the quality of treatment employee get on the job
(Coetzee, M., 2015).The quality of interpersonal treatment received by the employee in organization
due to formal decision making process is called interactional justice (Baldwin, S., 2006). It is more
related with the subordinate and leader relationship and the equality in supervisor- subordinate
relationship represents the interactional justice (Dai, L.T. and Xie, H.X., 2016)
Organization justice affects the employee work related attitude and behavior. There
was found significant effects of interactional justice on Organizational Commitment (Lather, A. S. and
Kaur, S., 2015). The effect of interactional justice represents various behavioral outcomes, It means
that the quality of treatment employee get from his supervisor influence the employee turnover
intention, loyalty or commitment towards the organization. It also influences the employees loyalty
and satisfaction (Muzumdar, P., 2012). Perceived Interactional justice in organization has significant
positive effect on workers organization citizenship behavior (Taamneh, A., 2015)
The influence of interactional justice includes the influence of interpersonal and
informational justice and their combine effects are more than the distributive and procedural justice
(Muzumdar, P., 2012). It was found that distributive and procedural justice play mediator role between
interactional justice and the work related outcomes such as job satisfaction, organization commitment.
Better it can be said that interactional justice affect the employee perception about the distributive and
procedural justice and employee feel more satisfied and committed in organization (Lather, A. S. and
Kaur, S., 2015). If employee receive fair treatment that it will affect their perception about the
organization policy and procedure and also they perceive outcomes to be fair. In this way interactional
justice leads to positive distributive and procedural justice, that satisfy employee and leads employee

25 | P a g e
h t t p s : / / w w w. i j o p a a r. o r g /

International Journal of Pure and Applied Management Sciences;

Vol. 2016.1.2; pp. 22-28, ISSN: 2456-4516
engagement. It revealed that Positive interactional justice also reseal in increase organization
citizenship behavior (Afari, T. S. and Elanain, H. M. A., 2014).
Employee considered four factors namely Task autonomy, respect, responsibility and
realistic expectations important, to measure the quality of treatment from designated groups. But if
mangers are unable to meet these four measure than employee feel interactional injustice. (Coetzee,
M. 2015). It was found that perceived injustice is the principle factor cause sabotage behavior among
employee It can be said if employee perceived injustice (unequal treatment or unhealthy behavior) in
organization that individual indulge in the sabotage behavior which is define as the destruction or
disturbance of organization process of functioning (Ambrose, M. L., Seabright, M. A. and Schminke,
M., 2002).
It was found that practicing interactional justice was not affected by gander, different
age group, education qualification and year of experience in service. In the same way people of
different age and qualification show same level of organization citizenship behavior. But the
significance difference was found in organization citizenship behavior in male and female also the
level of OCB change with the year of experience in service (Taamneh, A., 2015). In some case
procedural justice as compare to Interactional justice is stronger predictor of organization citizenship
behavior (Al Afari, T. S. and Elanain, H. M. A., 2014).
4. Conclusion
Present study was based on the theme that employee positive behavior beyond formal
duty in work environment is result of good integration with superior. And the quality of treatment
with employee defines direction of his behavior in organization. Hence to analysis this, relationship
between interactional justice and organization citizenship behavior was studied. It was found that a
significance relationship exist between international justice and organization citizenship behavior
among employee in organization.
References
1. Al Afari, T. S. and Elanain, H. M. A., (2014); Procedural And Distributive Justice As
Mediators Of The Relationship Between Interactional Justice And Work Outcomes: An
Empirical Study Of The UAE

Public Health Care Sector The Journal of Applied

Business Research July/August 2014 Volume 30, Number 4 Copyright by author(s);

CC-BY 1091 The Clute Institute.
2. Ambrose, M. L., Seabright, M. A. and Schminke, M. (2002); Sabotage in the workplace:
The role of organizational injustice Organizational Behavior and Human Decision
Processes 89 (2002) 947965.

26 | P a g e
h t t p s : / / w w w. i j o p a a r. o r g /

International Journal of Pure and Applied Management Sciences;

Vol. 2016.1.2; pp. 22-28, ISSN: 2456-4516
3. Bahrami, M.A., et. al., (2014); Relationship between Organizational Perceived Justice and
Organizational Citizenship Behavior among an Iranian Hospitals Employees, 2013
Electronic physician; Volume 6, Issue 2, April-June 2014 http://www.ephysician.ir
[electronicphysician@gmail.com] Page 838
4. Baldwin, S., (2006); Organization justice, published by Institute of Employment Studies,
University of Sussex Campus, copyright 2006 Institute of Employment Studies,
http://www.employment-studies.co.uk.
5. Berber, A., & Rofcanin, Y., (2012); Investigation of organization citizenship behavior
constructs a framework for antecedents and consequences. International Journal of
Business and Social Research (IJBSR), 2(4), 195210.
6. Coetzee, M., (2015); THE PERCEIVED TREATMENT OF EMPLOYEES FROM
DESIGNATED GROUPS IN THE WORKPLACESAJEMS NS 18 (2015) No 1:56-69
How to cite DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/2222-3436/2015/v18n1a5
7. Dai, L.T. and Xie, H.X. (2016); Review and Prospect on Interactional Justice. Open
Journal of Social Sciences, 4, 55-61. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jss.2016.41007.
8. Dash, S. and Pradhan, R. K., (2014); Determinants & Consequences of Organizational
Citizenship Behavior: A Theoretical Framework for Indian Manufacturing Organisations
International Journal of Business and Management Invention, pp. 17-27.
9. BRAHIMI, R., et. al (2013); The Effect of Organization Citizenship Behavior on Social
Capital in Iran's Cement Factories

International Journal of Academic Research in

Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences Vol. 3, No.2, April 2013, pp. 104109.
10. Jahangir, N., Akbar, M. M. and Haq, M., (2004); ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP
BEHAVIOR: ITS NATURE AND ANTECEDENTS BRAC University Journal, vol. I, no.
2, 2004, pp. 75-85
11. Lather, A. S.
and Kaur, S.,

(2015); A STUDY ON INFLUENCE OF

INTERACTIONAL, PROCEDURAL AND DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICEON WORK

OUTCOMES, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ADVANCED RESEARCH, Volume
3, Issue 7, 874-885.
12. Muzumdar, P., (2012); Influence of interactional justice on the turnover behavioral
decision in an organization, Journal of Behavioral Studies in Business, 2012/9 Journal of
Behavioral Studies in Business Volume 4 Pages 1-11.
13. Organ, D. W., (1988); Organizational citizenship behavior: The good soldier syndrome.
Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
14. Podsakoff, N. P., et al.,(2009); Individual- and Organizational-Level Consequences of
Organizational Citizenship Behaviors: A Meta-Analysis Journal of Applied Psychology
2009 American Psychological Association 2009, Vol. 94, No. 1, 122141. DOI:
10.1037/a0013079.
15. Podsakoff, P. M., et. al.(2000); Organizational Citizenship Behaviors: ACritical Review
of the Theoretical and Empirical Literature and Suggestions for Future Research Journal

27 | P a g e
h t t p s : / / w w w. i j o p a a r. o r g /

International Journal of Pure and Applied Management Sciences;

Vol. 2016.1.2; pp. 22-28, ISSN: 2456-4516
of Management 2000, Vol. 26, No. 3, 513563 Copyright 2000 by Elsevier Science Inc.
0149-2063.
16. Sharma, J. P., Bajpai, N. and Holani, U., (2011); Organizational Citizenship Behavior in
Public and Private Sector and Its Impact on Job Satisfaction: A Comparative Study in
Indian Perspective www.ccsenet.org/ijbm International Journal of Business and
Management Vol. 6, No. 1.
17. Songr H. N., Basm, N. and een, H., (2008);

The Antecedent Role of Justice

Perception in Organizational Citizenship Behavior TODAEs Review of Public

Administration, Volume 2 No 4 December 2008, p. 87-111.
18.Taamneh, A., (2015); The Impact of Practicing Interactional Justice on Employees
Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) in the Jordanian Ministry of Justice European
Journal of Business and Management, Vol.7, No.8.

28 | P a g e
h t t p s : / / w w w. i j o p a a r. o r g /