DOES INTERPERSONAL JUSTICE NEGATIVELY PREDICT OVERALL PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL FAIRNESS? A PAKISTANI STUDY

Abstract

Building on recent research in organizational justice, this study examined the impact of four factors of justice on perceived overall fairness of performance appraisal (PA) systems. The study used a survey questionnaire to collect data from 259 public servants in Pakistan. Based on fundamental ethical principles that employees desire public managers to be unbiased, we developed the hypotheses that were, subsequently, tested using variance-based structural equation modeling in SmartPLS 3.0. The results of the study revealed evidence that, in the context of PA systems, high interpersonal justice is indeed associated with decreased perceptions of overall fairness. The findings of the study provide guidance to public managers that distributive justice, procedural justice, and informational justice perceptions are more conducive for overall fairness perceptions in the PA system than interpersonal justice. Although the negative effect of interpersonal justice seems plausible, surprisingly, empirical research hitherto has not directly investigated this possibility.