Linking Peer Justice and Justice from the Supervisor to Performance: A Diary Study

Resumen La investigacion ha estudiado el impacto de la justicia or­ganizacional, definida como el trato que perciben los tra­bajadores por parte de una autoridad externa (supervisor u organizacion en su conjunto), sobre el desempeno como logro en la consecucion de los objetivos del trabajo. Sin embargo, se echa en falta investigacion de diario que tenga en cuenta otras fuentes de justicia mas alla de la autoridad externa. Este estudio analiza la relacion de dos fuentes de justicia, justicia del supervisor y justicia entre compane­ros, con el desempeno de los trabajadores. Para ello, se ha realizado un estudio de diario para valorar la variabilidad en el desempeno como consecuencia del trato diario de justicia que perciben los trabajadores. Se ha realizado un trabajo de campo con una muestra de 28 trabajadores de una empresa del sector de la automocion, durante 10 dias consecutivos. Los resultados mostraron correlaciones pro­medio estadisticamente significativas del desempeno con la justicia del supervisor ( r = 0.41, t (26) = 2.29; p < . 05) y la justicia entre companeros ( r = 0.44, t (26) = 2.49, p < . 05). Asimismo, se confirmo la existencia de una rela­cion estadisticamente significativa y positiva entre la jus­ticia del supervisor, percibida el primer dia de medida, y el desempeno de los trabajadores medido 10 dias despues. En cambio, no se observo la misma relacion con respecto a la justicia de los companeros. Asi, se concluye que: (a) los cambios en justicia van acompanados de cambios en el desempeno y (b) la justicia del supervisor, medida el dia de comienzo, es capaz de predecir el desempeno 10 dias despues. Abstract Previous research has investigated the impact of organiza­tional justice, defined as the treatment workers receive from an external authority (supervisor or the organization as a whole), on performance as achievement of task objec­tives. However, there is a lack of diary studies that con­sider other sources of justice beyond an external authority. This study analyzes the link from two sources of justice, justice from the supervisor and peer justice, to workers’ performance. To do so, we carried out a diary study to ex­amine variability in employees’ performance as a conse­quence of variability of daily justice treatment perceived by workers. We conducted a field survey investigation us­ing a sample of 28 workers of a company that pertained to the automotive sector, during 10 successive days. Our findings showed significant average correlations between performance, on the one hand, and both justice from su­pervisor ( r = 0.41, t (26) = 2.29, p < . 05) and peer justice ( r = 0.44, t (26) = 2.49, p < . 05). In addition, it was confirmed a significant and positive relationship between justice from the supervisor, perceived the first measurement day, and employees’ performance measured 10 days after. By contrast, this relationship was not confirmed for peer jus­tice. We conclude the following: a) changes in justice are associated with changes in performance; and b) justice from the supervisor, measured at the starting point, is able to predict performance ten days after.