<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>In the current study, using a sample of 467 employees from Ireland, we examined the effects of distributive justice perceptions, based on equity versus equality principles, on two forms of employee commitment: affective and normative. Furthermore, we also tested whether employees’ gender moderated the relationships between these two distributive justice perceptions and the two forms of commitment. Results indicated that equity perceptions positively influenced both forms of commitment and equality perceptions positively influenced only normative commitment. Additionally, results revealed that women reported greater affective and normative commitments than men when equity perceptions were higher than when they were lower. Gender did not moderate the relationship between equality perceptions and normative commitment. Women, however, reported lower affective commitment than men when equality perceptions were lower; there were no differences between men and women on affective commitment when equality perceptions were higher. Implications are discussed.</p></abstract>

In the current study, using a sample of 467 employees from Ireland, we examined the effects of distributive justice perceptions, based on equity versus equality principles, on two forms of employee commitment: affective and normative. Furthermore, we also tested whether employees’ gender moderated the relationships between these two distributive justice perceptions and the two forms of commitment. Results indicated that equity perceptions positively influenced both forms of commitment and equality perceptions positively influenced only normative commitment. Additionally, results revealed that women reported greater affective and normative commitments than men when equity perceptions were higher than when they were lower. Gender did not moderate the relationship between equality perceptions and normative commitment. Women, however, reported lower affective commitment than men when equality perceptions were lower; there were no differences between men and women on affective commitment when equality perceptions were higher. Implications are discussed.

Equity versus equality norms of justice and organisational commitment: the moderating role of gender

The Irish Journal of Management

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

In the current study, using a sample of 467 employees from Ireland, we examined the effects of distributive justice perceptions, based on equity versus...

Variables	Mean	s	Gender	Salary	Equity	Equality	Affective
Variables	Mean	s	Gender	Salary	Perception	Perception	Commitment
Gender	0.66	0.48
Salary importance	1.61	0.65	0.15 p < 0.001
Equity perceptions	3.03	1.05	–0.09 p < 0.05	0.11 p < 0.05
Equality perceptions	2.82	0.87	–0.02	–0.01	0.19 p < 0.001
Affective commitment	3.54	0.88	–0.04	0.18 p < 0.001	0.41 p < 0.001	0.05
Normative commitment	2.65	0.91	–0.04	0.10 p < 0.05	0.36 p < 0.001	0.14 p < 0.001	0.56 p < 0.001

	Affective Commitment						Normative Commitment

Variables	Model 1		Model 2		Model 3		Model 1		Model 2		Model 3

	b	t	b	T	b	t	b	t	b	t	b	t
Salary	0.19	4.14 p < 0.001	0.14	3.36 p < 0.001	0.15	3.48 p < 0.001	0.11	2.33 p < 0.01	0.07	1.52	0.07	1.61
Gender (male = 0; female = 1)	–0.07	1.42	–0.02	0.54	–0.42	3.36 p < 0.001	–0.06	1.21	–0.02	0.44	–0.42	3.23 p < 0.001
Equity			0.40	9.40 p < 0.001	–0.04	0.29			0.35	7.89 p < 0.001	–0.09	0.67
Gender × equity					0.58	3.37 p < 0.001					0.59	3.26 p < 0.001
DR²	0.04		0.15		0.02		0.01		0.12		0.02
F	8.90 p < 0.001		88.36 p < 0.001		11.33 p < 0.001		3.09 p < 0.05		62.23 p < 0.001		10.65 p < 0.001

	Affective Commitment						Normative Commitment

Variables	Model 1		Model 2		Model 3		Model 1		Model 2		Model 3

	b	t	b	T	b	t	b	t	b	t	b	t
Salary	0.20	4.25 p < 0.001	0.20	4.25 p < 0.001	0.21	4.47 p < 0.001	0.11	2.25 p < 0.05	0.11	2.28 p < 0.05	0.11	2.32 p < 0.05
Gender (male = 0; female = 1)	–0.06	1.39	–0.06	1.37	–0.46	3.02 p < 0.01	–0.06	1.29	–0.06	1.23	–0.15	0.99
Equality			0.05	1.03	–0.35	2.29 p < 0.01			0.14	2.99 p < 0.01	0.04	0.29
Gender × equality					0.56	2.73 p < 0.01					0.13	0.64
DR²	0.04		0.00		0.02		0.01		0.02		0.00
F	9.30 p < 0.001		1.06		7.47 p < 0.001		3.00 p < 0.05		8.91 p < 0.01		0.41

Equity versus equality norms of justice and organisational commitment: the moderating role of gender

Article Category: Research Article

Published Online: Dec 29, 2017

Page range: 206 - 220

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ijm-2017-0008

Keywords
distributive justice, equality norms, equity perceptions, gender, organisational commitment

© 2017 Nagarajan Ramamoorthy and Donna Stringer

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Descriptive statistics and correlations among variables used in the study

Results of the moderated regression analysis on affective commitment and normative commitment: effect of equity norms

Results of the moderated regression analysis on affective commitment and normative commitment: effect of equality norms

Equity versus equality norms of justice and organisational commitment: the moderating role of gender

Article Category: Research Article

Published Online: Dec 29, 2017

Page range: 206 - 220

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ijm-2017-0008

Keywordsdistributive justice, equality norms, equity perceptions, gender, organisational commitment

© 2017 Nagarajan Ramamoorthy and Donna Stringer

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Descriptive statistics and correlations among variables used in the study

Results of the moderated regression analysis on affective commitment and normative commitment: effect of equity norms

Results of the moderated regression analysis on affective commitment and normative commitment: effect of equality norms

Keywords
distributive justice, equality norms, equity perceptions, gender, organisational commitment