Perceptions of Reasons for Promotion of Self and Others

Abstract

In this study the reasons employees perceived for promotions of both themselves and others, and their reactions to those perceptions were examined. Previous research usually ignores (i) the potential antecedents of organizational justice regarding promotions and (ii) justice perceptions’ relations to the treatment of self versus others. Results showed that people consider promotions based on performance fair, whereas they consider non-performance criteria for promotions unfair. Furthermore, perceptions of promotion channels for self and others’ promotions each demonstrated unique prediction of justice, and gender interacted with employee promotion perceptions to predict promotional justice. Discussion focuses on implications regarding (i) similarities and differences in views of self versus others’ outcomes, (ii) equal opportunity, and (iii) future research.