The Roles of Organizational Justice, Social Justice, and Organizational Culture in Global Higher Education

Background

Organizational justice research has highlighted the importance of perceptions of justice for work behavior and motivation (Colquitt, Conlon, Wesson, Porter, & Ng, 2001; Loi, Hang-yue, & Foley, 2006). Organizational justice is concerned with the rules developed to take decisions on the distribution of acquisitions (e.g., tasks, goods, services, rewards, punishments, wages, organizational positions, opportunities, and roles among employees) and societal norms that constitute the basis for organizational justice (Folger & Cropanzano, 1998). A strong emphasis on organizational justice is an important element of ethical organizations (Greenberg & Bies, 1992).

There has been a growing interest in social justice issues in education (McMahon, 2007; Place, Ballenger, Wasonga, Piveral, & Edmonds, 2010; Theoharis, 2007). Educational leaders should act as the moral agents concerning social justice issues (Bates, 2006; Greenfield, 2004; Marshall, 2004). Educational leaders are continually urged to examine how educational problems are formed in a broad social context (Adams & Copland, 2005). Adopting a socio-ecological viewpoint on social justice efforts in education broadens the focus on leadership actions in schools and emphasizes the requirement to merge with complementary leadership actions in a broader social context (Berkovich, 2014).