Organizational Justice, Unemployment, and Employee Health: A Meta- Analysis

Recent research in organizational justice shows that organizational justice has an effect on employee health. This paper presents and tests two opposing hypotheses as to how labor market conditions influence this relationship. On the one hand, high unemployment may make the experience of organizational justice (or the absence thereof) more important to employees, thereby strengthening the relationship. On the other hand, unemployment may make employees less sensitive to organizational justice; because of the fear of job loss, they may tolerate more injustice. A meta-analysis of 106 samples from 23 countries shows that when unemployment is high, organizational justice has a weaker effect on employee health than when unemployment is low. This study extends our understanding of the influence of macro- level contextual factors on the relationship between organizational justice and employee health.