The impact of affect on organizational justice perceptions: A test of the affect infusion model

How individuals form justice perceptions has been a fundamental question for organizational justice research. While most researchers have treated justice perceptions as a result of deliberate cognitive processes, a limited number of studies have examined the role of affect in forming justice perceptions. Using the affect infusion model, we investigate the predictive role of affect in forming justice perceptions and consider two moderating contextual factors: personal relevance and group context. Two experimental studies, with a student sample and an employee sample, were conducted. Results confirm that participants in positive affective states perceived higher distributive and procedural justice than those in negative affective states. Moreover, personal relevance moderates the relationships between affect and both distributive and procedural justice perceptions, and the relationship is enhanced as the level of personal relevance increases. The results also suggest that group context constrains the influence of an individual participant’s affect on procedural justice.