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The present study examined the relationship between students' perceptions of distributive and procedural justice in a college course and student motivation concerning the course, affective learning in the course, and aggression toward the course instructor. Although student perceptions of both distributive and procedural justice were positively correlated with student motivation and affective learning and negatively correlated with student aggression toward the course instructor, multiple regression analyses indicated that only perceptions of procedural justice predicted the three criterion variables at a statistically significant level while distributive justice perceptions did not. Implications and suggestions for future research in classroom justice are offered.
KEY CONCEPTS: justice, fairness, motivation, learning, aggression
Justice is a core value held by most citizens of the United States. As an area of academic study, justice has received attention from scholars of various fields, most notably from political science and organizational behavior. Although issues fairness have been extensively examined in these settings, they have not been widely studied within the instructional context (Tyler, 1987). The present investigation seeks to rectify this situation by examining perceptions of fairness in the classroom and the relationship between justice and student outcomes.
Past research demonstrates that concepts related to organizational communication and behavior have been successfully applied and tested in the instructional setting. For example, past instructional communication research has examined traditionally organizational concepts such as leadership and power (Richmond &
McCroskey, 1992), decision-making styles (Chory & McCroskey, 1999), continuous quality improvement (Frymier, Shulman, & Houser, 1996), and organizational cultures (Chen, 2000) in the classroom environment. In the same way, the present study draws from the organizational justice literature in examining justice-related perceptions and reactions in the instructional setting. Specifically, this study analyzes the relationship between students' perceptions of distributive and procedural justice in a college course and student motivation concerning the course, affective learning in the course, and aggression toward the course instructor. The extension of organizational justice theory and research to the instructional context should provide further insight into the functioning of the student-teacher relationship, student learning, and numerous other variables. Investigating teacher behaviors that affect student outcomes is also important for its heuristic value for the field and its application in preparing and training instructors (Gorham & Millette, 1997).
Organizational justice refers to...