Organizational Justice in Sport Organizations: Perceptions of College Athletes and Other College Students

Abstract

Prior research has found that coaches and administrators at NCAA institutions believed distributing resources equally or based on program needs was fairer than distributing them based on program contributions. The current studies build on these findings by examining the views of fairness among college athletes and other college students in a hypothetical intercollegiate athletics setting (N= 150) and a hypothetical sport business setting (N= 150). In both settings, equality of treatment and need are most likely to be chosen as the fairest allocation methods. Although there are no group differences in the sport business setting, chi-square analysis and analysis of fairness ratings indicate some group differences in the intercollegiate athletics setting. Women are stronger supporters of equal distributions and equal reductions, whereas men are more supportive of making decisions based on need and contribution of the program.