Revisiting the Missing Theories of Organizational Justice

Abstract

Organizational justice (OJ) literature focuses on the well-established theories of OJ dimensions (distributive, procedural, interpersonal, and informational justices) and the relative significance of different OJ dimensions on dependent variables (Ambrose & Schminke, 2009). However, literature suggest an equal focus on relevant missing theories of justice to have a complete understanding of this concept. The researchers assume that the inclusion of relevant missing theories in their respective OJ dimensions would yield better results. They used two data sets to test this assumption. One data set, include well-established theories using Colquitt (2001) scale, while the second data set include well-established theories along with the relevant missing theories, such as, external equity, equality, and need etc. They concluded that with the incorporation of relevant missing theories in their respective OJ dimensions; overall, results improved in terms of diagnostic statistics including specifically t-statistics (p-values), F-statistics and R2; however, missing theories claim has not been substantiated.