Relationship between perceived justice and identification: The mediating role of organizational images

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to our understanding of the antecedents of organizational identification. Specifically, this paper aims to integrate two perspectives developed within the social identity domain, labeled “cognitive” and “relational,” by comparing and reconciling their relationship organizational identification. Design/methodology/approach – This study uses a survey method and a structured questionnaire to collect data from people working in a call center. The hypotheses were tested on a sample of 743 employees by using structural equation models and Hayes’ (2017) bootstrapping procedure. Findings – The results provide evidence for a mediational model in which the attractiveness of organizational images (cognitive representations) mediates the relationship between perceived justice (relational judgments) and organizational identification. Research limitations/implications – The data were obtained from a single source in a cross-sectional design, which may inflate common method variance. To address threats to validity, the authors employed several procedures, the results of which revealed that no parameters corresponding to the hypotheses changed in sign or significance, thus suggesting that the presence of method bias, if any, was nonconsequential. Practical implications – Not only does perceived justice relate to the sense of belonging to an organization, but it also contributes to shaping the long-term cognitive representations of the company. In particular, both HR and line managers should be aware that in this respect, the interactional dimension of justice shows the strongest effect. Originality/value – Building on and enlarging the scope of the extant literature, the findings contribute to our knowledge of how relational judgments shape cognitive images about the company, influencing, in turn, the individual–organization relationship.