Title: Investigating organisational justice in higher education in UAE

Authors: Shahira El Alfy; Solomon Arulraj David

Addresses: Faculty of Business, Higher Colleges of Technology, University City, Sharjah, UAE ' Faculty of Education, The British University in Dubai, Block 11, Dubai International Academic City (DIAC), Dubai, UAE

Abstract: The paper investigates organisational justice in higher education. A three-step research process has been used, including literature review, qualitative interviews, and then a quantitative survey. The literature review and the qualitative interviews with university instructors guide the development of a causal model that suggests antecedents and outcomes for organisation justice in an educational setting. The nature, direction and magnitude of the proposed relationship between organisational justice and variables identified from the literature review and the qualitative phase are tested. Correlation, regression and analysis of variance are used to test the hypothesised model. The result provides insights on the nature of the relationship among these variables for finding effective means towards nurturing a positive educational environment where instructors are motivated to utilise their full potential in achieving educational goals. Findings show that instructors' demographic characteristics and cultural values explain the variance in perceived organisational justice and strong empirical evidence exists for the positive effect of perceived organisation justice on instructors' motivation. Perceived organisation justice mediates the relationship between instructors' cultural values and motivation.

Keywords: perceived justice; motivation; power distance; uncertainty avoidance; individualism; procedural justice; interpersonal justice; informational justice; United Arab Emirates; UAE; higher education; demographic characteristics; cultural values; culture; organisation justice; faculty motivation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMIE.2017.083355

International Journal of Management in Education, 2017 Vol.11 No.2, pp.163 - 187

Received: 05 Nov 2015
Accepted: 19 May 2016
Published online: 24 Mar 2017 *

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