Do IT Professionals Attend to Internal and External Distributive Justice?

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to ascertain whether IT professionals attend to the different referents in distributive justice evaluations. This study achieves its purpose by drawing on distributive justice theory to differentiate two important referents for IT professionals' distributive justice evaluations: organizational or internal referents, and professional or external referents. Data for this study was collected through a survey research design in a large multinational organization headquartered in India. Analysis of the data indicates that IT professionals distinguish internal distributive justice from external distributive justice. Internal distributive justice evaluations were higher than external distributive justice evaluations in this sample. Both internal and external distributive justices are positively related to pay level satisfaction, thereby validating the former construct's multidimensional nature. We conclude the paper by discussing the implications of the findings for research and offer recommendations for the management of IT professionals.