Justice in the Workplace: From Theory to Practice, vol. 2. . - book review

Administrative Science Quarterly,  Dec, 2001  by Carol T. Kulik

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Overall, the chapters included in this volume provide an excellent summary of current justice research as well as emerging questions, but it is important to recognize that, despite the breadth of the book's coverage, there are interesting aspects of organizational justice that are not addressed here. For example, while the chapter authors frequently refer to "organizational" justice, the title of the book accurately conveys its focus on the organizational workplace and its current or prospective members (employees and job applicants). As a result, justice in other types of organizations (e.g., educational or political institutions) and the justice concerns of other constituencies (e.g., customers, shareholders, or the general public) are not covered.

Boundaries have to be drawn somewhere, and it is unreasonable to ask any book to address all the issues in a given area. Nevertheless, I would have liked to see the chapter contributors engage in a fuller discussion of the methodological issues in justice research. Several of the volume's chapters do touch on methodological issues, and the empirical research summarized in the book spans a wide range of laboratory and field methodologies. But there is little explicit discussion about the appropriateness of different research methods or the challenges associated with measuring organizational justice concepts. As the field of organizational justice expands and attracts more researchers interested in applying justice to their primary areas of interest, methodological concerns are becoming paramount.

COPYRIGHT 2001 Cornell University, Johnson Graduate School
COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group