The Impact of Organizational Justice on Climate and Trust in High Schools

Abstract

In the private sector, organizational justice has consistently demonstrated a strong correlation with trust in management, employee commitment, and performance. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether organizational justice has a similar relationship with social processes in the educational arena. This study examined the relationship between organizational justice and school climate and sought to replicate earlier findings of a significant link between perceptions of justice and faculty trust in schools at a different level. In the representative sample of 36 high schools, a significant positive relationship was found between organizational justice and school climate. Additional analysis revealed a significant positive correlation between justice and each school climate dimension: collegial leadership, teacher professionalism, academic press, and community engagement. When regressed with the other climate dimensions, collegial leadership alone demonstrated a significant independent effect on organizational justice. A significant positive correlation was also found between organizational justice and all three faculty trust dimensions: trust in principal, trust in colleagues, and trust in clients. However, only trust in the principal demonstrated a significant and independent effect on organizational justice when regressed with the other trust dimensions.