How Justice Theory and Research Can Help Address Organizational and Societal Problems

Abstract

Organizational justice scholars have examined the consequences and causes of employees’ fairness perceptions. Given the reliability of what is known about how, when, and why fairness perceptions matter, we can and should contribute to addressing the pressing problems of our times, regardless of whether they primarily reside within organizations (e.g., diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)) or outside of organizations (e.g., climate change, political extremism). Our focus aligns with more general calls for responsible management research (Tsui, 2022). Accordingly, we illustrate the implications of organizational justice scholarship for addressing three issues: DEI, climate change, and political extremism. We also consider some of the barriers associated with translating organizational justice theory and research to practice, offer some recommendations on how to overcome those barriers, and delineate some of the unintended consequences of our best efforts. Finally, we describe ways in which organizational justice scholars can make our knowledge more accessible in public domains.