Abstract
Organizational justice is a central concern for management scholars to understand workplace dynamics, predicting attitudes, behaviors and outcomes. However, justice and fairness perceptions are intricately linked to power dynamics (Cook & Hegtvedt, 1986). Power shapes distribution of rewards in social systems and creates profound implications for organizational justice (Bashshur et al., 2023; Fortin & Fellenz, 2008; Monin, 2013). Despite this insight, the integration of power and justice research remains sparse. Cook and Hegtvedt observed in 1986 that “few studies address the link between power and justice” (p. 32). Later, Molm et al. (1994) pointed out that “social psychologists have been curiously silent about the relation between structural power and perceptions of justice” (p. 98). Although many studies on power and justice have been conducted since then (cf., Brockner et al., 2021; Tripp, 1993; Blader and Chen, 2012), the two statements still hold true today. To advance the field, management scholars need to create a space that energizes the study of power, dependencies, and fairness. This symposium brings together papers situated in the intersection of organizational justice, fairness, power, and legitimacy and dependency. The first paper introduces the concept of justice omissions in the organizational context, which highlights hitherto neglected ways in which justice dynamics can play out within relationships with power differentials. The second paper proceeds with an illustration of how the roles that people take within power relations are shaped by justice perceptions, and how this may differ between cultures. The third paper, somewhat in contrast to the second one, finds that power distance as a cultural variable may not affect some central justice dynamics: Specifically, in this meta- analysis the fair process effect is not moderated by power distance. Finally, two qualitative paper presentations focus on justice and power dynamics outside of classical hierarchical organizational contexts: entrepreneurs and grassroot activists, two populations that have not been considered much so far in the literature on justice dynamics. Taken together, the set of papers presented in our symposium “Power and Justice Dynamics in Organizations and Beyond” shed light on how national, organizational and relational power differentials affect justice dynamics, but also how justice perceptions affect role enactment within power relations. Additionally, the papers showcase a variety of methods: i.e., conceptual work (paper 1), quantitative work (survey method paper 2, meta-analysis paper 3) and qualitative work (papers 4 and 5) that enriches contemporary justice literature.