ISSN 0798 1015

Vol. 39 (# 08) Year 2018. Page 27

Evaluating the Relationship between Social Capital and Organizational Justice from the Perspective of Employees of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, in Southwest of Iran

La evaluación de la relación entre capital social y justicia organizacional desde la perspectiva de los empleados de la Universidad de Ciencias Médicas Ahvaz Jundishapur (Irán)

Gholamhossein BAREKAT 1; Abdolreza GILAVAND 2

Received: 26/10/2017 • Approved: 25/11/2017

Content

1. Introduction

2. Methods

3. Results

4. Discussion and Conclusion

5. Recommendations

Ethical considerations

References

1. Introduction

Iran medical science universities undertake the main responsibility of training the committed, efficient, and expert human resource to meet the health and medical requirements of people (1). In addition, many elites are recruited by Iran medical science universities due to some attractions (2-3). Justice in an organization suggests fairness and equality and observing the ethical behavior in an organization. The perceived organizational justice refers to one’s perception of fairness of returns and rewards provided by the organization. In other words, perceived organizational justice refers to level that employees consider the organization measures to be fair (4) . The theories of justice have been mainly founded based on the social exchange theory. Based on this theory, in each social exchange, humans compare the benefits and costs of the exchange with each other, and when he perceives that that cost of an exchange is more than its benefits, he considers it as a type of injustice (5). Theories and studies on organizational justice are evaluable in the form of three waves. The first wave is based on the distributional justice, the second wave is based on procedural justice, and the third wave is based on interactive justice (6).  Researchers and experts have accepted at least three types of justice based on the existing evidence. In interaction with each other, these three dimensions of justice develop general fairness perceived by people in workplaces (7). Distributive justice refers to fairness perceived from organizational outcomes (8). Procedural justice is related to fairness perceived from methods used to make decision on allocations and findings (9). Interactive (communicative) justice refers to the quality of behavior among the people, felt by each person (10). Interactive justice has two distinctive aspects: interpersonal justice and informational justice. Interpersonal justice is the level of treating with people with respect, and informational justice refers to one’s perception of fairness of communicative channels and systems (11). Soenny and McFarlane stated that distributive justice has close correlation with outcomes and goals and procedural justice has close correlation with practices and tools in workplaces. The nature and intensity of employees' perceptions of level of justice in workplaces are correlated with various working, organizational, and individual outcomes (12). When employees are feeling that practices, outcomes, and behaviors of managers, supervisors, and organizations are fairer with them, they will try to compensate it by their behavior and attitude through social exchange processes (13). There is much debate on the relative importance and involvement of various types of perceived justice in various attitudes and behaviors. In other words, it has not been found that which of these perceptions is important among different employees in different organizations. Studies conducted in this regard suggest that cognitive mechanisms and processes and momentary highlight of information affect the perceptions on justice cognitively in different people and in one person at different times (14). In other words, the fact that which of the dimensions of the justice perceived momentary is important for employees so that can make judgment on presence or absence of justice in situations depends on the fact that which of these perceptions has been activated, based on received recognitions and information (15).

From the Coleman perspective, social capital includes commitments and expectations, authority relationships, potential capacity of information, norms and effective executive guarantees. (16). In addition, from the Nahapit and Ghasal perspective, social capital is divided into three dimensions:

 1. Structural dimension with an emphasis on the links available in the network, form and composition of network, and organizational appropriateness

 2. Cognitive dimension with an emphasis on common language, symbols, and narratives

 3- Communicative dimension with an emphasis on trust, norms, commitments, and mutual relations and identifying the common identity (17)

Additionally, Leana and VanBuren provide a personal interest model of social capital. In this model, social capital clearly focuses on people and their social assets, such as social status and interest, academic certificates, etc. In this model, focusing on findings obtained for people or an individual is taken into consideration (18). Some studies carried out in Iran suggest correlation between social capital and organizational justice (19-25). Thus, as organizational justice perception leaves a positive impact on the effective performance of employees of organizations and their satisfaction, this study was carried out to evaluate the relationship between social capital and organizational justice from the perspective of employees of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, in Southwest of Iran .

2. Methods

This study was conducted using descriptive and correlational method. Research population included all non-faculty employees of central organization and all schools of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, in Southwest of Iran. Out of all employees, 230 employees were randomly selected in 2016.  The data collection tool included three questionnaires. The first questionnaire was related to demographic characteristics of the subjects, such as gender, educational level, and work experience. In addition, two standard questionnaires including Nahapit and Ghasal Social Capital Questionnaire (1998) and Niehoff and Moorman Organizational Justice Questionnaires were used. Each of these questionnaires included 20 questions. Data were analyzed in SPSS 21 software by using Pearson correlation and stepwise regression and t-test. All ethical considerations were observed in this research, for example, informed consent of subjects was obtained and they were ensured that their views will remain confidential .

3. Results

In this study, 230 official and contractual employees of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences participated in the current research. Table 1 illustrates their demographic characteristics, including gender, educational level, and work experience. As seen, 55% of the employees were female and 45% of them were male. In addition, 4% of them had associate degree, 75% had bachelor degree, and 21% had master degree. Moreover, 31% of them had work experience less than 5 years, 24% of them had work experience 5-10 years, and 44% of them had work experience more than 10 years at university .

Table 1
Demographic characteristics of employees

Table 2 illustrates the findings of correlation coefficient on the relationship between organizational justice and social capital. As seen, no significant relationship is seen between organizational justice scores and social capital scores of employees, because the correlation coefficient (r = 0.103) obtained with the frequency of 230 people is not significant at 0.05 alpha level. In addition, considering the table results, significance level (P = 0.273) is greater than alpha level of 0.05. Thus, at confidence level of 95%, it can be stated that there is no significant and positive relationship between organizational justice and social capital of employees.

Table 2
Findings of correlation coefficient on the relationship between organizational justice and social capital

a=correlation is not significant at the level of 0.05

Table 3 illustrates the findings of correlation coefficient on the relationship between distributive justice and social capital. As seen, no significant relationship is seen between distributive justice scores and social capital scores of employees, because the correlation coefficient (r = 0.029) obtained with the frequency of 230 people is not significant at 0.05 alpha level. In addition, considering the table findings, significance level (P = 0.761) is greater than alpha level of 0.05. Thus, at confidence level of 95%, it can be stated that there is no significant and positive relationship between distributive justice and social capital of employees.

Table 3
Findings of correlation coefficient on the relationship between distributive justice and social capital

a=correlation is not significant at the level of 0.05

Table 4 illustrates the findings of correlation coefficient on the relationship between procedural justice and social capital. The correlation coefficient (r = 0.089) obtained with the frequency of 230 people is not significant at 0.05 alpha level. In addition, considering the table findings, significance level (P = 0.349) is greater than alpha level of 0.05. Thus, at confidence level of 95%, it can be stated that there is no significant and positive relationship between procedural justice and social capital of employees.

Table 4
Findings of correlation coefficient on the relationship between procedural justice and social capital

a=correlation is not significant at the level of 0.05

Table 5 illustrates the findings of correlation coefficient on the relationship between interactive justice and social capital. The correlation coefficient (r = 0.128) obtained with the frequency of 230 people is not significant at 0.05 alpha level. In addition, considering the table findings, significance level (P = 0.175) is greater than alpha level of 0.05. Thus, at confidence level of 95%, it can be stated that there is no significant and positive relationship between interactive justice and social capital of employees.

Table 5
Findings of correlation coefficient on the relationship between interactive justice and social capital

a=correlation is not significant at the level of 0.05

Table 6 illustrates the findings of correlation coefficient on the relationship between distributive justice and trust. The correlation coefficient (r = 0.217) obtained with the frequency of 230 people is significant at 0.05 alpha level. In addition, considering the table findings, significance level (P = 0.021) is lower than alpha level of 0.05. Thus, at confidence level of 95%, it can be stated that there is significant relationship between distributive justice and trust of employees.

Table 6
Findings of correlation coefficient on the relationship between distributive justice and trust

Given the findings of Table 7, a significant relationship is found between dimensions (trust and political involvement, trust and diversity, forgiveness and volunteering spirit, and political involvement) at alpha level of 0.05.  Additionally, at the alpha level of 0.01, significant relationship is seen among dimensions of political involvement and civil leadership involvement, between civil leadership and involvement and diversity in social communications and friendships, between civil leadership and involvement and ability to develop informal social relations, between political involvement and diversity in social communications and friendships, between political involvement and the ability to develop informal social relations, and between ability to develop informal social relations and diversity in social communications and friendships). It means that at confidence level of 99%, it could be stated that there is significant relationship among the dimensions .

Table 7
Correlation coefficients between each of the social capital dimensions 

*correlation is significant at the level of 0.05
**correlation is significant at the level of 0.01

4. Discussion and Conclusion

Research results revealed that there is no significant relationship between the two variables of organizational justice and social capital of employees of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, in Southwest of Iran. This finding is in line with finding of the research conducted by Shaker et al (20), Alvani et al (21) and Sharifi Fathabad (7). But is not in line with the finding of the study conducted by Chavoshini et al (19), Amirkhani et al (22), Asghari Aghdam et al (23), Akbari et al (24), Naghipour et al (25). Additionally, research findings revealed that majority of the respondents did not have high level of satisfaction with organizational justice status and they evaluated the level of observing the justice at university at the relatively low level.  Moreover, no relationship was found between organizational justice status and demographic characteristics of people, such as gender, educational level and work experience. However, in a research carried out at Iran’s universities in recent years, female employees did not have organizational justice status because of many barriers in their promotion to management positions (26). It is concluded that observing the justice in the organization has a direct and indirect impact on satisfaction of customers and employees.  While employees are affected more by distributive justice rather than procedural, customers are affected more by interactive justice and procedural and distributive justice have low impact on them. Justice in the organization results in creation of a positive image of organization in their minds, leading to enhanced accountability and improved organization status in the external environment . Social capital is regarded as an economic variable resulting from cultural characteristics of a social system. In other words, social capital is economic manifestation of social or organizational culture, based on the trust and involvement of people. Secondary results of study also suggest a positive and significant relationship between distributive justice and trust. Thus, it is recommended that organizations to take step in line with enhanced procedural justice and creating space based on the trust by providing the appropriate conditions to observe the distributive justice. In addition, increased observing of procedural justice contributes in developing interactive justice in organization. Thus, fairly distribution of organizational outcomes leads to higher levels of trust. This result is in line with the findings of the research conducted by Nasr Esfahani et al (27). Other finding of the research suggests significant relationship among the dimensions of social capital. Hence, it could be concluded that improving each of these dimensions directly or indirectly contributes to improvement of other dimensions, and adequate attention should be paid to all dimensions of it. The ethical foundations of the organization include dignity, pride, goodness and justice, so managers need to act in a way that to protect their dignity, behave humanely and kindly, and do not neglect justice and fairness in treating with employees (28).

5. Recommendations

1-It is recommended that managers to pay rewards based on the effort level of employees in the company, not based on relations with the manager, and the promotion of the employees should be based on competency of the employees. Developing a system evaluating the performance of employees and explaining objective criteria based on job functions may result in more observing of justice and fairness in the university .

2-It is recommended that the university to provide the conditions for employees to consult with their manager on their issues and work practices, so that the rewards to be distributed fairly and specific standards to be developed for promotion of employees in workplace.

3- It is recommended that manager to treat with managers with respect and without discrimination. The right of each of the employees should be important for the manager, and employees should perceive this issue. Their encouragement should be performed in public meeting to result in increased sense of belonging, loyalty, and commitment among the employees.

4-It is recommended organizations’ managers to acquire required skill in developing network communication with other organizations, since lack of this skill reduces communication and information in different organizational areas and injustice among the employees of the organizations .

Ethical considerations 

Ethical issues were completely observed by the authors.

Conflicts of interest: None declared

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1. Associate Professor, Department of Educational Administration, Ahvaz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran

2. Expert on Faculty Appointments, Department of Education Development Center, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran. Email: gilavanda@gmail.com