Organizational justice perceptions in Virginia high schools: A study of its relationship to school climate and faculty trust

In the private sector, organizational justice has consistently demonstrated a strong correlation with trust in management, employee commitment, and performance. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether organizational justice had a similar relationship with social processes in the educational arena. This study examined the relationship between organizational justice and school climate and it sought to replicate earlier findings of a significant link between perceptions of justice and faculty trust. The Organizational Justice Scale (OJS), School Climate Index (SCI), and Omnibus T-Scale were used to survey 988 licensed, professional staff members in 30 public high schools in Virginia.;A significant positive relationship was found between organizational justice and school climate. Additional analysis revealed a significant positive correlation between justice and each school climate factor: collegial leadership, teacher professionalism, academic press, and community engagement. When regressed with the other climate factors, collegial leadership alone demonstrated a significant independent effect on organizational justice. A significant positive correlation was also found between organizational justice and all three faculty trust factors: trust in principal, trust in colleagues, and trust in clients. However, only trust in the principal demonstrated a significant and independent effect on organizational justice when regressed with the other trust factors.