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Organizational justice–affective commitment relationship in a team sport setting: The moderating effect of group cohesion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 January 2015

Jae-Pil Ha  and
Jaehyun Ha
Jae-Pil Ha
Affiliation:
Department of Sport Marketing, Keimyung University, Daegu, Republic of Korea
Jaehyun Ha*
Affiliation:
Department of Sport Marketing, Keimyung University, Daegu, Republic of Korea
*
Corresponding author: jaehyunha@kmu.ac.kr
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Abstract

Using organizational justice literature, the current study aimed to examine the relationship between three dimensions of organizational justice (distributive, procedural, interactional justice) and affective commitment, and to explore the moderating effect of group cohesion on the relationship between the three dimensions of justice and affective commitment in a collegiate team sport context. Data were collected from 253 college student-athletes of two Football Bowl Subdivision institutions in the Southeastern United States. Results of three hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that all three dimensions of justice were positively and significantly related to affective commitment. In regard to the moderating effect, group cohesion significantly moderated the distributive justice–affective commitment and the interactional–affective commitment relationships. Specifically, the two significant relationships were significantly stronger for student-athletes who reported high levels of group cohesion than their counterparts. Strategies by coaches to improve athletes’ perceptions of fairness and group cohesion and suggestions for future researches were discussed.

Keywords

organizational justiceaffective commitmentgroup cohesionteam sportsstudent-athletes
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , January 2015 , pp. 107 - 124
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2015 

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