If it's fair, I'll share: The effect of perceived knowledge validation justice on contributions to an organizational knowledge repository

Abstract The organizational value of an electronic knowledge repository depends on the degree to which it offers high quality knowledge to its users. Validation procedures are implemented to monitor and ensure the quality of submitted content. However, if perceived as unreasonable or unfair, validation can have the unintended effect of discouraging employee contributions. Drawing on organizational justice and fairness literatures, we show that both quality perceptions and contribution behaviors are positively influenced by perceived procedural justice of validation, which, in turn, is influenced by perceived informational and interpersonal justice. Implications for organizational knowledge management research and practice are discussed.

[1]  J. Greenberg,et al.  Organizational Justice: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow , 1990 .

[2]  T. Tyler,et al.  The Social Psychology of Procedural Justice , 1988 .

[3]  Scott B. MacKenzie,et al.  Common method biases in behavioral research: a critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. , 2003, The Journal of applied psychology.

[4]  R. Mauborgne,et al.  Procedural justice, strategic decision making, and the knowledge economy , 1998 .

[5]  Jerome M. Chertkoff,et al.  Explaining Injustice: The Interactive Effect of Explanation and Outcome on Fairness Perceptions and Task Motivation , 2002 .

[6]  Jerald Greenberg,et al.  Advances in Organizational Justice , 2001 .

[7]  R. Bies.  Interactional justice : communication criteria of fairness , 1986 .

[8]  Paul E. Spector,et al.  The Role of Justice in Organizations: A Meta-Analysis , 2001 .

[9]  Kelly J. Fadel,et al.  Information Influence in Mediated Knowledge Transfer: An Experimental Test of Elaboration Likelihood , 2009, Int. J. Knowl. Manag..

[10]  Tom R. Tyler,et al.  The Role of Perceived Injustice in Defendants' Evaluations of Their Courtroom Experience , 1984 .

[11]  Kyle Lewis,et al.  Integrating Justice and Social Exchange: The Differing Effects of Fair Procedures and Treatment on Work Relationships , 2000 .

[12]  T. Tyler,et al.  Procedural justice as a criterion in allocation decisions. , 1986 .

[13]  R. Bies,et al.  Beyond "voice": The influence of decision-maker justification and sincerity on procedural fairness judgments. , 1987 .

[14]  J. P. Daly,et al.  The role of fairness in implementing large‐scale change: Employee evaluations of process and outcome in seven facility relocations , 1994 .

[15]  J. Greenberg,et al.  A Taxonomy of Organizational Justice Theories , 1987 .

[16]  Renée Mauborgne,et al.  Strategy, Value Innovation, and the Knowledge Economy , 1999 .

[17]  Robert Folger,et al.  Fairness theory: Justice as accountability. , 2001 .

[18]  Alan D. Marwick,et al.  Knowledge management technology , 2001, IBM Syst. J..

[19]  Wynne W. Chin.  The partial least squares approach for structural equation modeling. , 1998 .

[20]  Dennis F. Galletta,et al.  Research Note - Knowledge Exploration and Exploitation: The Impacts of Psychological Climate and Knowledge Management System Access , 2011, Inf. Syst. Res..

[21]  Snejina Michailova,et al.  Diagnosing and Fighting Knowledge-Sharing Hostility , 2002 .

[22]  Ganesh D. Bhatt,et al.  Knowledge management in organizations: examining the interaction between technologies, techniques, and people , 2001, J. Knowl. Manag..

[23]  Nozomu Matsubara,et al.  PUNISHMENT AND THE INDIVIDUAL IN THE UNITED STATES AND JAPAN , 1988 .

[24]  David De Cremer,et al.  When does procedural fairness promote organizational citizenship behavior? Integrating empowering leadership types in relational justice models , 2012 .

[25]  M. Lindell,et al.  Accounting for common method variance in cross-sectional research designs. , 2001, The Journal of applied psychology.

[26]  Robert W. Zmud,et al.  Behavioral Intention Formation in Knowledge Sharing: Examining the Roles of Extrinsic Motivators, Social-Psychological Factors, and Organizational Climate , 2005, MIS Q..

[27]  Markus Groth,et al.  IMPROVING APPLICANTS' REACTIONS TO REJECTION LETTERS: AN APPLICATION OF FAIRNESS THEORY , 2001 .

[28]  Izak Benbasat,et al.  Explanations From Intelligent Systems: Theoretical Foundations and Implications for Practice , 1999, MIS Q..

[29]  Chieh-Peng Lin.  To Share or Not to Share: Modeling Tacit Knowledge Sharing, Its Mediators and Antecedents , 2007 .

[30]  Stephanie Watts,et al.  Informational Influence in Organizations: An Integrated Approach to Knowledge Adoption , 2003, Inf. Syst. Res..

[31]  H. David Sheets,et al.  Partial least squares analysis , 2012 .

[32]  M. Lynne Markus,et al.  Toward A Theory of Knowledge Reuse : Types of Knowledge Reuse Situations and Factors in Reuse Success , 2022 .

[33]  Robert Folger,et al.  Organizational Justice and Human Resource Management , 1998 .

[34]  Dorothy E. Leidner,et al.  Review: Knowledge Management and Knowledge Management Systems: Conceptual Foundations and Research Issues , 2001, MIS Q..

[35]  Nava Pliskin,et al.  Investigating Physicians' Compliance with Drug Prescription Notifications , 2011, J. Assoc. Inf. Syst..

[36]  Alexandra Durcikova,et al.  The Role of Knowledge Repositories in Technical Support Environments: Speed Versus Learning in User Performance , 2005, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[37]  K. Hewett,et al.  A Multi-Theoretical Model of Knowledge Transfer in Organizations: Determinants of Knowledge Contribution and Knowledge Reuse , 2006 .

[38]  C. Fornell,et al.  Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. , 1981 .

[39]  J. Colquitt,et al.  To justify or excuse?: A meta-analytic review of the effects of explanations. , 2003, The Journal of applied psychology.

[40]  David Gefen,et al.  Leadership and justice: Increasing non participating users' assessment of an IT through passive participation , 2008, Inf. Manag..

[41]  Michael H. Zack,et al.  Managing Codified Knowledge , 1999 .

[42]  Eric L. Lesser,et al.  Nurturing interpersonal trust in knowledge-sharing networks , 2003 .

[43]  J. Colquitt.  On the dimensionality of organizational justice: a construct validation of a measure. , 2001, The Journal of applied psychology.

[44]  Debra L. Shapiro,et al.  Interactional fairness judgments: The influence of causal accounts , 1987 .

[45]  Joel Brockner,et al.  Procedural fairness, outcome favorability, and judgments of an authority's responsibility. , 2007, The Journal of applied psychology.

[46]  Paul S. Goodman,et al.  Computer-Aided Systems and Communities: Mechanisms for Organizational Learning in Distributed Environments , 1998, MIS Q..

[47]  David M. Lahuis,et al.  Do Applicants' Perceptions Matter? Investigating Reapplication Behavior Using Fairness Theory , 2007 .

[48]  David C. Yen,et al.  Exploring barriers to knowledge flow at different knowledge management maturity stages , 2012, Inf. Manag..

[49]  J. Christopher Westland.  Partial Least Squares Path Analysis , 2015 .

[50]  K. Jöreskog,et al.  Intraclass Reliability Estimates: Testing Structural Assumptions , 1974 .

[51]  Donald E. Conlon,et al.  Justice at the millennium: a meta-analytic review of 25 years of organizational justice research. , 2001, The Journal of applied psychology.

[52]  Robert E. Ployhart,et al.  Explanations for selection decisions : Applicants' reactions to informational and sensitivity features of explanations , 1999 .

[53]  Detmar W. Straub,et al.  A Practical Guide To Factorial Validity Using PLS-Graph: Tutorial And Annotated Example , 2005, Commun. Assoc. Inf. Syst..

[54]  Robert H. Moorman,et al.  Relationship between organizational justice and organizational citizenship behaviors : do fairness perceptions influence employee citizenship ? , 1991 .

[55]  Fernando Olivera,et al.  Memory Systems In Organizations: An Empirical Investigation Of Mechanisms For Knowledge Collection, Storage And Access , 2000 .

[56]  P. Sweeney,et al.  Research Notes. Distributive and Procedural Justice as Predictors of Satisfaction with Personal and Organizational Outcomes , 1992 .

[57]  Alexandra Durcikova,et al.  How Knowledge Validation Processes Affect Knowledge Contribution , 2009, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[58]  Tung-Ching Lin,et al.  Withholding effort in knowledge contribution: The role of social exchange and social cognitive on project teams , 2010, Inf. Manag..

[59]  Steve Offsey,et al.  Knowledge Management: Linking People to Knowledge for Bottom Line Results , 1997, J. Knowl. Manag..

[60]  Edward G. Carmines,et al.  Reliability and Validity Assessment , 1979 .

[61]  Uday R. Kulkarni,et al.  A Knowledge Management Success Model: Theoretical Development and Empirical Validation , 2006, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[62]  Paul Schepers,et al.  Social Factors of Work-Environment Creativity , 2007 .

[63]  Christine W. Soo,et al.  Knowledge Management: Philosophy, Processes, and Pitfalls , 2002 .

[64]  Maureen L. Ambrose,et al.  Procedural and distributive justice are more similar than you think: A monistic perspective and a research agenda. , 2001 .

[65]  H. P. Sims,et al.  Just and Unjust Punishment: Influences on Subordinate Performance and Citizenship , 1994 .

[66]  W. Andrew Taylor,et al.  Computer-mediated knowledge sharing and individual user differences: an exploratory study , 2004, Eur. J. Inf. Syst..

[67]  Kirk L. Wakefield,et al.  The effects of customer service on consumer complaining behavior , 1995 .

[68]  Atreyi Kankanhalli,et al.  Contributing Knowledge to Electronic Knowledge Repositories: An Empirical Investigation , 2005, MIS Q..

[69]  Debra L. Shapiro,et al.  Voice and justification: Their influence on procedural fairness judgments. , 1988 .

[70]  Ephraim R. McLean,et al.  The DeLone and McLean Model of Information Systems Success: A Ten-Year Update , 2003, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[71]  Peter B. Seddon.  A Respecification and Extension of the DeLone and McLean Model of IS Success , 1997, Inf. Syst. Res..

[72]  Atreyi Kankanhalli,et al.  Special Issue on: Knowledge Management in Asia Understanding Seeking from Electronic Knowledge Repositories: , 2022 .

[73]  Paul D. Sweeney,et al.  Workers' evaluations of the "ends" and the "means": An examination of four models of distributive and procedural justice. , 1993 .

[74]  P. Sweeney,et al.  Distributive and procedural justice as predictors of satisfaction with personal and organizational outcomes. , 1992 .

[75]  Jerome M. Chertkoff,et al.  Explaining Injustice: The Interactive Effect of Explanation and Outcome on Fairness Perceptions and Task Motivation , 2002 .

[76]  Atreyi Kankanhalli,et al.  Are norms enough? The role of collaborative norms in promoting organizational knowledge seeking , 2006, Eur. J. Inf. Syst..

[77]  Tom R. Tyler,et al.  What is procedural justice? Criteria used by citizens to assess the fairness of legal procedures. , 1988 .

[78]  Kevin J. Williams,et al.  The importance of contextual variables when judging fairness: An examination of counterfactual thoughts and fairness theory , 2011 .