Legitimacy and Justice

Abstract

Consistent with the theoretical argument of Hegtvedt and Johnson, we empirically examine the relationship between collectivity-generated legitimacy of reward procedures and individual-level justice perceptions about reward distributions. Using data from a natural setting, we find that collectivity sources of validity (authorization and endorsement) exert positive effects on individual-level justice perceptions as predicted by Hegtvedt and Johnson, but that this influence is entirely indirect through the individual's perception of procedural justice. These effects are found net of self-interest and net of other job-related sources of support from the collectivity.