Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Justice and Culture

  • Chapter
Handbook of Social Justice Theory and Research

Abstract

In this chapter, I review cross-cultural justice research. In order to understand how culture may influence justice processes, I provide a broad framework of justice and culture. This framework integrates four different ways of systematizing justice perceptions in previous research, which helps to pinpoint where cultural differences are likely to emerge. Most of the cross-cultural research has focused on distributive justice. Examining the relatively diverse literature, I suggest a reconceptualization of equity theory that promises to advance both theoretical and practical work in this area. A second major area of cross-cultural research has been the investigation of justice effects. Linking this research to work on justice motives, I argue that cross-cultural research can contribute to a better understanding of justice processes in general. One area that requires significantly more attention is an investigation of the implementation of abstract justice criteria and rules in specific cultural contexts.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 259.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 329.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 329.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Adams, J. S. (1965). Inequity in social exchange. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 267–296). New York, NY: Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barry, B., & Shapiro, D. L. (2000). When will grievants desire voice? A test of situational, motivational and attributional explanations. International Journal of Conflict Management, 11, 106–134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baumert, A., & Schmitt, M. (2016). Justice sensitivity. In C. Sabbagh & M. Schmitt (Eds.), Handbook of social justice theory and research (pp. 161–180). New York, NY: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Begley, T. M., Lee, C., Fang, Y., & Li, J. (2002). Power distance as a moderator of the relationship between justice and employee outcomes in a sample of Chinese employees. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 17, 692–711.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berman, J. J., & Murphy-Berman, V. A. (1996). Cultural differences in perceptions of allocators of resources. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 27, 494–509.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berman, J. J., Murphy-Berman, V. A., & Singh, P. (1985). Cross-cultural similarities and differences in perceptions of fairness. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 16, 55–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bies, R. J., & Moag, J. S. (1986). Interactional justice: Communication criteria of fairness. In R. J. Lewicki, B. H. Sheppard, & B. H. Bazerman (Eds.), Research on negotiation in organizations (Vol. 1, pp. 43–55). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boer, D., & Fischer, R. (2013). How and when do personal values guide our attitudes and sociality? Explaining cross-cultural variability in attitude-value linkages. Psychological Bulletin, 139, 1113–1147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brockner, J., Ackerman, G., Greenberg, J., Gelfand, M. J., Francesco, A. M., Chen, Z. X., … Shapiro, D. (2001). Cultural and procedural justice: The influence of power distance on reactions to voice. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 37, 300–315.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brockner, J., De Cremer, D., van den Bos, K., & Chen, Y. R. (2005). The influence of interdependent self-construal on procedural fairness effects. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 96, 155–167.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brosnan, S. F. (2006). Nonhuman species’ reactions to inequity and their implications for fairness. Social Justice Research, 19, 153–185.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, C. C. (1995). New trends in reward allocation preferences: A Sino-U.S. comparison. Academy of Management Journal, 38, 408–428.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, Z., Wakabayashi, M., & Kakeuchi, N. (2004). A comparative study of organizational context factors for managerial career progress focusing on Chinese state-owned, Sino-foreign joint venture and Japanese corporations. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 14, 750–774.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chhokar, J. S., Zhuplev, A., Fok, L. Y., & Hartman, S. J. (2001). The impact of culture on equity sensitivity perceptions and organizational citizenship behavior: A five-country study. International Journal of Value-Based Management, 14, 79–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen-Charash, Y., & Spector, P. E. (2001). The role of justice in organizations: A meta-analysis. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 86, 278–321.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohn, E. S., White, S. O., & Sanders, J. (2000). Distributive and procedural justice in seven nations. Law and Human Behavior, 24, 553–579.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Colquitt, J. A. (2001). On the dimensionality of organizational justice: A construct validation of a measure. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 386–400.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Colquitt, J. A., Conlon, D. E., Wesson, M. J., Porter, C. O. L. H., & Ng, K. Y. (2001). Justice at the millennium: A meta-analytic review of 25 years of organizational justice research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 425–445.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Colquitt, J. A., Greenberg, J., & Scott, B. A. (2005). Organizational justice: Where do we stand? In J. Greenberg & J. A. Colquitt (Eds.), Handbook of organizational justice (pp. 113–154). Mahwah NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Colquitt, J. A., Scott, B. A., Rodell, J. B., Long, D. M., Zapata, C. P., Conlon, D. E., & Wesson, M. J. 2013. Justice at the millennium, a decade later: A meta-analytic test of social exchange and affect-based perspectives. Journal Of Applied Psychology, 98:199–236.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cropanzano, R., Byrne, Z. S., Bobocel, D. R., & Rupp, D. E. (2001). Moral virtues, fairness heuristics, social entities and denizens of organizational justice. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 58, 164–209.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deutsch, M. (1975). Equity, equality, and need: What determines which value will be used as the basis of distributive justice? Journal of Social Issues, 31, 137–150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ellard, J. H., Harvey, A., & Callan, M. J. (2016). The justice motive. In C. Sabbagh & M. Schmitt (Eds.), Handbook of social justice theory and research (pp. 127–143). New York, NY: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Erdogan, B., & Liden, R. C. (2006). Collectivism as a moderator of responses to organizational justice: Implications for leader-member exchange and ingratiation. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 27, 1–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farh, J., Earley, P. C., & Lin, S. (1997). A cultural analysis of justice and organisational citizenship behaviour in Chinese society. Administrative Science Quarterly, 42, 421–444.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Faulkner, S. L., Baldwin, J. R., Lindsley, S. L., & Hecht, M. L. (2006). Layers of meaning: An analysis of definitions of culture. In J. R. Baldwin, S. L. Faulkner, M. L. Hecht, & S. L. Lindsley (Eds.), Redefining culture: Perspectives across the disciplines (pp. 27–51). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferreira, M. C., Fischer, R., Porto, J., Pilati, R., & Milfont, T. (2012). Unravelling the mystery of Brazilian jeitinho: A cultural exploration of social norms. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 38, 331–344.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R. (2004). Organizational reward allocation principles: Testing organizational and cross-cultural differences. International Journal for Intercultural Relations, 28, 151–164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R. (2008). Rewarding seniority: Investigating organizational and cultural determinants of seniority-based allocations. Journal of Social Psychology, 148, 167–186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R. (2012a). Intersubjective culture: Indeed intersubjective or yet another form of subjective assessment? Swiss Journal of Psychology, 71, 13–20. doi:10.1024/1421-0185/a000067.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R. (2012b). Value isomorphism in the European Social Survey: Exploration of meaning shifts in values across levels. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 43, 883–898. doi:10.1177/0022022111413276.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R. (2013a). Belonging, status or self-protection? Examining justice motives in a three-level cultural meta-analysis of organizational justice effects. Cross-Cultural Research, 47, 3–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R. (2013b). What values can (and cannot) tell us about individuals, society and culture. Advances in Culture and Psychology, 4, 218–272.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R., Ferreira, M. C., Jiang, D. Y., Chen, B. S., Achoui, M., Wong, C.C., … Assmar, E. M. L. (2011). Are perceptions of organizational justice universal? An exploration of measurement invariance across thirteen cultures. Social Justice Research, 24, 297–313. doi: 10.1007/s11211-011-0142-7

    Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R. & Maplesden, S. (2006, July). Organizational justice and cultural values: A meta-analysis. Paper presented at the 26th International Congress of Applied Psychology, Athens, Greece.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R., & Poortinga, Y. (2012). Are cultural values the same as the values of individuals? An examination of similarities in personal, social and cultural value structures. International Journal of Cross-Cultural Management, 12, 157–170. doi:10.1177/1470595812439867.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R., & Schwartz, S. H. (2011). Whence differences in value priorities? Individual, cultural, or artifactual sources. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 42, 1127–1144. doi:10.1177/0022022110381429.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R., & Smith, P. B. (2003). Reward allocation and culture: A meta-analysis. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 34, 251–268.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R., & Smith, P. B. (2004). Values and organizational justice: Performance and seniority-based allocation criteria in UK and Germany. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 35, 669–688.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R., & Smith, P. B. (2006). Who cares about justice? The moderating effect of values on the link between organizational justice and work behavior. Applied Psychology, 55, 541–562.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R., Smith, P. B., Richey, B.E., Ferreira, M. C., Assmar, E. M. L., Maes, J., & Stumpf, S. (2007). Organizational reward allocation principles: Testing organizational and cross-cultural differences. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 38, 1–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R. (2008). Rewarding seniority: investigating organizational and cultural determinants of seniority-based allocations. Journal of Social Psychology, 148, 167–186.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, R., Vauclair, C. M., Fontaine, J. R., & Schwartz, S. H. (2010). Are individual- and culture-level value structures different? Testing Hofstede’s legacy with the Schwartz value survey. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 41, 135–151.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Folger, R. (1977). Distributive and procedural justice: Combined impact of ‘voice’ and improvement on experienced inequity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35, 108–119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Folger, R. (1998). Fairness as moral virtue. In M. Schminke (Ed.), Managerial ethics: Moral management of people and processes (pp. 13–34). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giacobbe-Miller, J. K., Miller, D. J., & Victorov, V. I. (1998). A comparison of Russian and U.S. pay allocation decisions, distributive justice judgments, and productivity under different payment conditions. Personnel Psychology, 51, 137–163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gillespie, J. Z., & Greenberg, J. (2005). Are the goals of organizational justice self-interested? In J. Greenberg & J. A. Colquitt (Eds.), Handbook of organizational justice (pp. 179–214). Mahwah NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg, J. (1993). The social side of fairness: Interpersonal and informational classes of organizational justice. In R. Cropanzano (Ed.), Justice in the workplace: Approaching fairness in human resource management (pp. 79–103). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg, J. (2001). Setting the justice agenda: Seven unanswered questions about “what, why and how”. Journal of Vocational Behaviour, 58, 210–219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henrich, J., Ensimger, J., McElreath, R., Barr, A., Barrett, C., Bolyanatz, A., et al. (2010). Markets, religion, community size, and the evolution of fairness and punishment. Science, 327, 1480–1484. DOI: 10.1126/science.1182238.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • House, R. J., Hanges, P. J., Javidan, M., Dorfman, P., & Gupta, V. (Eds.). (2004). Cultures, leadership, and organizations: GLOBE study of 62 societies. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hundley, G., & Kim, J. (1997). National culture and the factors affecting perceptions of pay fairness in Korea and the United States. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 5, 325–341.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huseman, R. C., Hatfield, J. D., & Miles, E. W. (1987). A new perspective on equity theory: The equity sensitivity construct. Academy of Management Review, 12, 222–234.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jasso, G., Törnblom, K., & Sabbagh, C. (2016). Distributive justice. In C. Sabbagh & M. Schmitt (Eds.), Handbook of social justice theory and research (pp. 201–218). New York, NY: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, F. F., Scarpello, V., & Bergmann, T. (1999). Pay procedures-what makes them fair? Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 72, 129–145.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, D. A., & Martens, M. L. 2009. The mediating role of overall fairness and the moderating role of trust certainty in justice-criteria relationships: the formation and use of fairness heuristics in the workplace. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 30: 1025–1051.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kashima, Y., Siegal, M., Tanaka, K., & Isaka, H. (1988). Universalism in lay conceptions of distributive justice: A cross-cultural examination. International Journal of Psychology, 23, 51–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kenrick, D. T., Griskevicius, V., Neuberg, S. L., & Schaller, M. (2010). Renovating the pyramid of needs: Contemporary extensions built upon ancient foundations. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5, 292–314.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, T. Y., & Leung, K. (2007). Forming and reacting to overall fairness: A cross-cultural comparison. Organizational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes, 104, 83–95.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lam, S. S. K., Schaubroeck, J., & Aryee, S. (2002). Relationship between organizational justice and employee work outcomes: A cross-national study. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23, 1–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lerner, M. J. (1971). Observer’s evaluation of a victim: Justice, guilt, and veridical perception. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 20, 17–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lerner, M. J. (1975). The justice motive in social behavior: Introduction. Journal of Social Issues, 31, 1–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lerner, M. J. (2003). The justice motive: Where social psychologists found it, how they lost it, and why they may not find it again. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 7, 388–399.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leung, K. (1997). Negotiation and reward allocation across cultures. In P. C. Earley & M. Erez (Eds.), New perspectives on international industrial/organizational psychology (pp. 640–675). San Francisco, CA: New Lexington.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leung, K., & Stephan, W. G. (2001). Social justice from a cultural perspective. In D. Matsumoto (Ed.), Handbook of culture and psychology (pp. 375–410). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leung, K., & Tong, K. K. (2004). Justice across cultures: A three-stage model for intercultural negotiation. In M. Gelfand & J. M. Brett (Eds.), Handbook of negotiation and culture (pp. 313–333). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leventhal, G. S. (1980). What should be done with equity theory? New approaches to the study of fairness in social relationships. In K. J. Gergen, M. S. Greenberg, & R. H. Willis (Eds.), Social exchange: Advances in theory and research (pp. 27–54). New York, NY: Plenum.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Lind, E. A. (2001). Fairness heuristic theory: Justice judgements as pivotal cognitions in organizational relations. In J. Greenberg & R. Cropanzano (Eds.), Advances in organization justice (pp. 56–88). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lind, E. A., & Tyler, T. R. (1988). The social psychology of procedural justice. New York, NY: Plenum.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lind, E. A., & Van den Bos, K. (2002). When fairness works: Toward a general theory of uncertainty management. In B. M. Staw & R. M. Kramer (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior (Vol. 24, pp. 181–223). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, J., & Harder, J. W. (1994). Bread and roses: Justice and the distribution of financial and socio-emotional rewards in organizations. Social Justice Research, 7, 241–264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mendonca, M., & Kanungo, R. N. (1994). Motivation through effective reward management in developing countries. In R. N. Kanungo & M. Mendonca (Eds.), Work motivation: Models for developing countries (pp. 49–83). New Delhi, India: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morris, M. W., & Leung, K. (2000). Justice for all? Progress in research on cultural variation in the psychology of distributive and procedural justice. Applied Psychology, 49, 100–132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morris, M. W., Leung, K., Ames, D., & Lickel, B. (1999). Views from the inside and outside: Integrating emic and etic insights about culture and justice judgment. Academy of Management Review, 24, 781–796.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mueller, S. L., & Clarke, L. D. (1998). Political-economic context and sensitivity to equity: Differences between the United States and the transition economies of central and eastern Europe. Academy of Management Journal, 41, 319–329.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murphy-Berman, V., Berman, J. J., Singh, P., Pacharui, A., & Kumar, P. (1984). Factors affecting allocation to needy and meritorious recipients: A cross-cultural comparison. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 1267–1272.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pearce, J. L., Bigley, G. A., & Branyiczki, I. (1998). Procedural Justice as modernism: Placing industrial/organizational psychology in context. Applied Psychology, 47, 371–396.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Price, K. H., Hall, T. W., Van den Bos, K., Hunton, J. E., Lovett, S., & Tippett, M. J. (2001). Features of the value function for voice and their consistency across participants from four countries: Great Britain, Mexico, the Netherlands, and the United States. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 84, 95–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rusbult, C. E., Insko, C. A., & Lin, Y. W. (1995). Seniority-based reward allocation in the United States and Taiwan. Social Psychology Quarterly, 58, 13–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rutte, C. G., & Messick, D. M. (1995). An integrated model of perceived unfairness in organizations. Social Justice Research, 8, 239–261.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, S. H. (1992). Universals in the content and structure of values: Theoretical advances and empirical tests in 20 countries. In M. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 25, pp. 1–65). Orlando, FL: Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, S. H. (1994). Beyond individualism-collectivism: New cultural dimensions of values. In U. Kim, H. C. Triandis, C. Kagitcibasi, S. C. Choi, & G. Yoon (Eds.), Individualism and collectivism: Theory, method and applications (pp. 85–119). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shapiro, D. L., & Brett, J. M. (1993). Comparing three processes underlying judgments of procedural justice: A field study of mediation and arbitration. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 1167–1177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, P. B., Fischer, R., Vignoles, V., & Bond, M. H. (2013). Understanding social psychology across cultures. Engaging with others in a changing world (2nd ed.). London, England: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, P. B., Peterson, M. F., Misumi, J., & Tayeb, M. H. (1989). On the generality of leadership styles across cultures. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 62, 97–110.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thibaut, J., & Walker, L. (1975). Procedural justice: A psychological analysis. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thibaut, J., & Walker, L. (1978). A theory of procedure. California Law Review, 66, 541–566.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trompenaars, F. (1993). Riding the waves of culture. London, England: Economist Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tyler, T. R., & Lind, E. A. (1992). A relational model of authority in groups. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 25, pp. 115–191). San Diego, CA: Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tyler, T. R., Lind, E. A., & Huo, Y. J. (2000). Cultural values and authority relations: The psychology of conflict resolution across cultures. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 6, 1138–1163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van den Bos, K., & Lind, E. A. (2002). Uncertainty management by means of fairness judgments. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 34, 1–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Victoria University Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

    Ronald Fischer

  2. Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies, Aarhus, Denmark

    Ronald Fischer

Authors
  1. Ronald Fischer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ronald Fischer .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Haifa Faculty of Education, Haifa, Israel

    Clara Sabbagh

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Koblenz-Landau, Landau, Germany

    Manfred Schmitt

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Fischer, R. (2016). Justice and Culture. In: Sabbagh, C., Schmitt, M. (eds) Handbook of Social Justice Theory and Research. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3216-0_25

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3216-0_25

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-3215-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-3216-0

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation