Will I Cooperate? The Moderating Role of Informational Distance on Justice Reasoning

Tessa Melkonian (), Guillaume Soenen and Maureen Ambrose
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Tessa Melkonian: EMLYON Business School
Guillaume Soenen: EMLYON Business School
Maureen Ambrose: UCF College of Business Administration

Journal of Business Ethics, 2016, vol. 137, issue 4, No 3, 663-675

Abstract: Abstract This study examines the influence of a dimension of a strategic organizational change context—namely informational distance—on employees’ justice expectations and their behavioral intentions toward the change. Drawing on research from organizational justice and from construal level theory, we hypothesize that informational distance, i.e., the extent to which employees feel knowledgeable about the coming change, affects the relative influence of the anticipatory justice facets and anticipatory overall justice in predicting support for change. Consistent with the hypotheses, results from participants of a merger suggest that when employees feel less knowledgeable about the future change (high-informational distance), overall anticipatory justice predicts their intention to cooperate with the change. However, when employees feel more knowledgeable about the future change (low-informational distance), anticipatory justice facets predict intention to cooperate. Implications for research on organizational justice and change as well as considerations for practice are discussed.

Keywords: Anticipatory justice; Overall justice; Justice facets; Construal level theory; Informational distance; Merger and acquisition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10551-015-2744-8

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