Effect of Organizational Justice Dimensions on Performance of Academic Staff in Developing Countries
Abd Rahman Ahmad 1, Alaa S. Jameel2*
1,2Faculty of Technology Management and Business, UniversitiTun Hussein Onn Malaysia, BatuPahat, Johor, Malaysia
2 Department of Public Administration, Cihan University-Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq
ABSTRACT
Employees job performance is important in all organizations, but its importance increases in educational organizations in general and in universities in particular, because the pivotal role played by the academic staff of the universities in creating and nurturing future generations that are capable of advancing the country and the society. This study investigates the impact of organizational justice dimensions on academic staff performance in the Iraqi higher education system. The study deployed the quantitative method to measure academic staff's organizational justice and performance at Iraqi public universities located in Baghdad.
However, the study employed stratified technique to ensure the better represented of sample.
Only 297 responses were valid to be analysed by using (AMOS). The findings showed that distributive justice, and interactional justice positively impacted on academic performance and able to increase the performance, while procedural justice did not impact on academic performance. However, distributive justice had higher impact on job performance of academic staff compared to interactional justice. The findings of this study imply that decision-makers at universities should pay more attention to the fair distribution of resources, payment, promotion and training to increase job performance.
KeywordsAcademic performance; organizational justice; university; distributive justice;
procedural justice.
Introduction
Education is the most important strategy for countries to achieve economic and prosperous life for citizens. The importance of education increases in the university level because the graduates are the future workforce of the country and their level of knowledge has essential role in all the economic and social aspects of a society [1]. Academic staff Performance (ASP) is important for the performance of universities. However, it is more critical for the universities in developing countries due to the need to improve the educational level as well as the social and economic activities in these countries [1], [2]. However, Organizationaljustice play vital role to increase the performance of academic staff [2], [3],[4],[5],[6],[7].The theory of organizational justice was developed from the work of Adams in 1965 on the equity theory [8]. Organizational justice widely recognized as equity. The term „organizational justice‟ refers to “the perception of employees regarding the workplace, the procedures that is being made as well as the interaction with others and the outcome of the work to be fair and just” [6].
Against this view, most of previous studies focused on the ASP in developed countries such as in United Kingdom (UK), US, and western countries [7] and few studies were conducted in developing countries such as Iraq [9]. Studies in developing countries focused on describing the population and conducted simple statistical analysis to identify the mean score value. In addition,
the sample size of previous studies is limited and small [5]. The higher education in Iraq face many challenges such as employee morale, ranking of universities in the world and brain drain that bring an effect to the university performance [10],[11]. Here, Iraq is in need for effective academic staff that are able to improve the performance of universities and contribute to the prosperity of the country. Therefore, there is a need to improve the ranks of the Iraqi universities and reduce the migration of students and academic staff to overseas universities. Iraqi public universities are among the lowest rank compared with other Arab countries [12], [13]. Academic staff are migrating to other countries seeking better job opportunities. Among the issues that contributed to the weak performance of academic staff is administrative authority is overcentralized, new students are poorly prepared, and the teaching staff is inadequately trained, which affected the job performance of academic staff.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of Organizational justice dimensions of Academies staff performance at Iraqi Public Universities.
Literature Review Performance of Academic Staff
The job performance of employees is important in all organizations, but its importance increases in educational organizations in general and in universities in particular, because the pivotal role played by the academic staff of the universities in creating and nurturing future generations that are capable of advancing the country and the society. Thus, academic staff has important role and contributes to the society in term of teaching and conducting scientific research that increases the efficiency of the university and society [14]. Given the importance of the performance of academic staff, this study is devoted to examine this variable at Iraq public universities. Jameel and Ahmad [1] emphasize were that education, research/publication and community service positions were essential for the growth of any nation internationally since these roles specifically promote social welfare, financial literacy, safety and reduced crime in communities. Research is one of the reasons why universities were founded, leading to new information development, the production of technology, enhanced service quality and increased educational prestige and economic value. Academic staff at university comprise people who carry out educational work at the university, including teaching, research, and, in some instances, administrations. However, Educational achievements are the primary criteria used to assess university academic performance [15].According to Abba and Mugizi [16] the criteria which could measure the academic performance such as staff skills, material resources, teaching, publication, research and community service.
Abba and Mugizi [16] emphasized that education, research/publication and community service were essential for the growth of any nation internationally since these roles specifically promote social welfare, financial literacy, safety and decreases crime in communities [17]. Research is one of the reasons why universities were founded, leading to new information discovery, the production of technology, enhanced service quality, increased educational prestige and economic value. The performance of universities is mostly calculated by the efforts of academic and non- academic staff. Academic staff at a university comprised people who carry out educational work at the university, including teaching, research, and, in some instances, administrations. Therefore,
educational achievements are the primary criteria used to assess a university academic performance [18],[19].
Hypotheses Development
Organizational Justice and Academic Staff Performance
OJ is one of the issues of tremendous concern to researchers, executives, and scientists in organizational behaviour, industrial and organizational psychology, and human resources management for years; it focused on interest and shows how individuals in their organizations view fairness and justice. However, A significant aspect of society is the notion of justice (i.e., fairness). This concept refers to OJ as it applies to the work environment [20]. OJ relates to the perception that individuals are treated fairly and just by employing organizations [22].
The organizational justice theory was developed from the work of Adams in 1965 on the equity theory [8]. Organizational justice widely recognized as equity. The term „organizational justice‟
refers to “the perception of employees regarding the workplace, the procedures that is being made as well as the interaction with others and the outcome of the work to be fair and just” [6], [15]
The theory holds that organizational justice has three dimensions. These dimensions are a) distributive justice, b) procedural justice, and c) interactional justice.
Distributive Justice
DJ relates to the perception of fair and equitable organizational results such as (pay, advantages, shift assignment, work assessments, promotions, and workplace discipline) [23]. It is essential to recognize that equity and not equality are based on distributive justice [21]. Equality implies that all employees are treated the same, regardless of their effort or their effect. Equity refers to the results determined by particular individuals‟ efforts and contributions. Under the concept of equity exchange, an individual evaluates organizational outputs based on inputs, comparing them with what other employees have received in comparable circumstances and what is considered to just input [24]. Individuals assess input-based organizational outputs, compare them with what others have received in comparable circumstances [25]. If individuals consider the outcome- rewards to be reasonable, they tend to have a strong organizational DJ perception. If they feel that the output-rewards are unfair, the individuals will have a reduced perception of DJ [25]. If individuals with greater contribution and another small contribution to the same organization get an equal advantage, it considers unfair [26]. Recently, most organizational studies on DJ focus on employees ' perceptions of how outcomes are distributed across the board. Individuals operating in comparable organizational environments may perceive DJ differently because they evaluate their own performance differently or match their own contributions and results with other staff contributions [9].
Shan et al. [27] reported DJ has positive and significant impact on performance of library staff in Pakistan. In the context of academic staff performance, Jameel, Ahmad, and Mousa [5]investigated the effect of distributive justice on the performance of academic staff and found significant effect between the two variables. In addition, Arab and Atan [28] found that distributive justice has a significant effect on the job satisfaction and performance of academic staff in Kurdistan region in Iraq. In this study, the effect of distributive justice on the performance of academic staff in Iraqi public universities is expected to be positive and significant. Therefore, the following is hypothesized:
H1: Distributive justice has a positive significant effect on the performance of academic staff at Iraqi public universities.
Procedural Justice
PJ relates to a sense of fairness and justice in the organization's processes and procedures to achieve significant results [29]. Most employees want to have coherent, open, and honest procedures in their decision on distributive results, regardless of the outcome. The method can be as essential or even greater than the result itself [21]. While PJ and DJ are different concepts, study findings reveal that both are crucial in determining employee's perceptions of justice and have a significant impact on organizational results [9]. OJ, does not transact with the equity of the results and benefits received by a worker, but also transacts with the equity of the making- decision method used for better distribution. OJ identified the first element, which is commonly researched over the previous years. The second element is PJ that comparably novel to organizational researches[21].Procedures generating appropriate, accurate, and reliable acknowledged data are usually recognized as fair therapy and coping. Such fair treatment is eligible and should be correctly implemented reasonably from time to time. While PJ shows that organizational processes and procedures for achieving significant results are considered fair [25],[26], Higher rates of DJ and PJ attitudes regular lead to more favourable opinions of the work and the organization, while reduced concentrations of perceived DJ and PJ can lead to adverse emotions such as disappointment, outrage, and wrath .This may cause OC [25]. The employees' work attitudes and affective organizational engagement should be linked approvingly with both types of OJ [26], [5].
Jameel, Ahmad and Karem [9] proposed that PJ is the most important dimension of organizational justice and it has a significant effect on the ASP . Arabs and Atan[28] found that procedural justice has a significant effect on the performance of academic staff in Kurdistan region in Iraq. Shan et al., [27] found that PJ has a significant effect on the performance of library staff in Pakistan. On the other hand, the study of Kalay [6] found that the effect of procedural justice on the performance of teacher in Turkey is not significant. However, this study expects that the procedural justice will have a positive and significant effect on the performance of academic staff in Iraqi public universities.
H2: Procedural Justice has a significant positive effect on the performance of academic staff in Iraqi public universities.
Interactional Justice
IJ, consider as the third element of OJ, proposed by Bies and Moag [30]. IJ is a distinct understanding of fairness in the organization's interpersonal therapy, whereas IJ is linked to fairness in the procedure used to resolve conflicts and assign results [30], [5],[9]. In terms of results (distribution) and processes, an organization's staff also assess whether they are treated with regard and dignity by others – including peers and managers. Researchers have examined the effect of IJ on the performance of employees. Jameel, Mahmood, and Jwmaa [23] found IJ is the most significant dimension of OJ. Jameel, Ahmad, and Mousa [5] found that interactional justice is important and has significant effect on the ASP in Iraq. Similarly, the study of Arabs and Atan[28] found significant effect of interactional justice on ASP in Kurdistan in Iraq.
Insignificant effect of IJ on performance of employees was found in the study of Kalay [6] The author found that interactional justice has insignificant effect on the performance of teachers in Turkey. However, most of previous studies found that the effect of interactional justice on performance of employees is positive and significant. This study proposes that the effect of interactional justice on performance of academic staff will be positive and significant.
H3: Interactional justice has a positive and significant effect on the performance of academic staff in Iraqi public universities.
Research Methodology
The population of this study is the academic staff in iraqi public universities. Based on the statistic of the MHESR, there are nine public universities located in Baghdad and these universities have more than 43% of academic staff. This makes the population of this study 14, 690 academic staff working in the Iraqi public universities in Bagdad. Stratified random sampling was deployed in this study due the differences in population of universities. The study collects data using a questionnaire.
The measurement was adopted from previous studies, translated and validated by experts. The measurement of DJ was in 5 items adopted from Leventhal [24] and Shan et al., [27],
PJ 4 items adopted from Leventhal [24] and Shan et al., [27] and IJ 4 items adopted from Bies and Moag [30] and Shan et al., [27].lastly, academics staff performance measured by Shan et al., [27] in 5 Items.
A total of 374 questionnaire were distributed on the nine universities. After follow ups, a total of 324 responses were collected making the response rate of 86.6%. However, the data was
examined for missing values and outliers. This has resulted in reduction of 27 responses making the complete and usable responses 297. These responses are sufficient for the use of AMOS [31], [32], [33]. The data is normally distributed and no multicollinearity issues among the variables.
In addition, none response bias was examined. The early responses are not different from the late responses.
Findings
This section discusses the profile of the respondents as well as the analysis of the data using AMOS version 24.0.
Profile of respondents
A total of 297 respondents have participated in this study. A total of 70% of the respondents are males older than 30 years (94.5%) and holders of PhD degree (65%) while those holder of master degree accounted to 35%. The majority of the respondents are lecturers with 79.1% have experience of more than 5 years.
Measurement Model
The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted on all the constructs. Several items were deleted to improve the indices. Figure 1 shows the CFA measurement after several modifications for proposed model to reach the model fit and achieving the rollability and validity of constructs.
It shows that all the indices were acceptable CFI, IFI, TLI exceeded the cut off value 0.90 [34], as well RMSEA 0.058 <0.08 [34] see figure 1.
Figure 1 Measurement Model
Table 1. Results of Measurement Model Constructs items
Factor loadings
>0.6
CR
>0.7
CA
>0.7
AVE
>0.5
DJ
DJ1 DJ2 DJ3 DJ4
.806 .864 .776 .779
0.762 0.743 0.642
DJ5 .776
IJ
IJ1 IJ2 IJ3 IJ4
.855 .901 .938 .672
0.864 0.869 0.719
PJ
PJ1 PJ2 PJ3 PJ4
.818 .820 .832 .852
0.861 0.858 0.691
ASP
ASP1 ASP2 ASP3 ASP4 ASP5
.672 .840 .839 .836 .741
0.756 0.766 0.623
After finalizing the CFA for all the constructs, the measurement model was conducted. The purpose of conducting the measurement model is to assess the factor loading, reliability, and convergent validity. Factor loading of the items were greater than the suggested value of 0.60[34]. For the reliability, the Cronbach‟s Alpha (CA) and Composite Reliability (CR) for all the variables were calculated and as shown in Table 1, all the CA and CR are greater than 0.70.
Convergent validity is achieved if the average variance extracted (AVE) is greater than 0.50. The findings in Table 1 shows that the AVE for all variables are greater than 0.50.
Structural Model
The hypotheses are tested based on the outcome of the structural model. The hypotheses include the effect of Organizational Justice Dimensions on performance of academic staff is given in Table 2 and Figure 2.
Table 2.Hypotheses Results
Hypotheses Estimate S.E. C.R. P-value Label
ASP <--- Distributive Justice .428 .099 4.285 *** Supported ASP <--- Procedural Justice .084 .075 1.120 .262 Not Supported ASP <--- Interactional Justice .322 .088 3.623 *** Supported
It shows that the effect of Distributive Justice on academic staff performance is significant (Estimate =.428, P-value .000 <.05). Thus, H1 is supported. For the second hypothesis, the effect Procedural Justice is insignificant (Estimate=.084, P-value .262 >0.05). Thus, H2 is Not Supported. For H3, the effect of Interactional Justice on performance is positive and significant (estimate=.322, P-Value =.000 < 0.05).Thus, H3 Supported. the effect model managed to explain 20% of the variation in academic staff performance.
Figure 2. Structural Model
DISCUSSION
This study investigated the effect of OJ Dimensions on Academic staff Performance at Iraqi Public Universities. The findings indicated that Distributive and Interactional Justice could positively predict Academic staff Performance. This shows that when the management of public universities in Iraq implements the DJ and IJ, the performance of academic staff will increase.
The DJ is more important than the IJ and PJ. This is because Distributive Justice has a higher coefficient. Thus, implementing Distributive and Interactional Justice in universities will yield high performance of academic staff. These findings solve the argument among researchers regarding the suitability of organizational justice in educational institutions. In the context of this study, both Distributive and Interactional justice are important. However, Distributive is more critical for the ASP. These findings are in agreement with the findings of previous studies [5], [28].
Procedural justice has insignificant impact on Job Performance of the academic staff (P-Value 0.2.62 > 0.05 and T-statistics 1.120) which led to the rejection of the second hypothesis. This result is supported by previous finding by Kalay[6] and Jameel, Ahmadand Mousa[5].
JP tends not to be linked to the conceptions of Procedural justice. This finding undermines in extensive part conventional study findings in this area, which typically suggest and show
substantial positive ties between all facets of justice and success. In other words, expectations of justice affect or change the behavior of people who continuously seek to restore justice by different means. However, procedural justice does not impact on Job Performance of the academic staff perhaps because the study was conducted in public universities, and it is understood that their continuing employment and career progress are dependent directly on government programs and policies and not on the universities itself.
CONCLUSION
This study was conducted to examine organizational Justice and its effect on ASP. The study confirmed the proposed hypotheses and recommended the decision-makers to implement Organizational Justice. The study was limited to public universities in Baghdad. Further studies can include private and public universities. The study also included only academic staff thus result in it is limited to their perception. However, the study deployed stratified random sampling, which allows the generalization of the public universities' findings in Iraq. Nevertheless, future studies are recommended to examine Organizational Justice in other developing countries. In addition, future studies are recommended to examine other variables such as Leadership style, training, and income.
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