The Association Between Organizational Justice and Organizational Trust Among Correctional Staff

• Published date: 01 May 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00938548241232227
• Author: Monica Solinas-Saunders,Eric G. Lambert,Stacy H. Haynes,Linda D. Haynes,Matthew C. Leone,David C. May
• Date: 01 May 2024

CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, 2024, Vol. 51, No. 5, May 2024, 707 –723.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00938548241232227

Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions

© 2024 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology

707

THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN

ORGANIZATIONAL JUSTICE AND

ORGANIZATIONAL TRUST AMONG

CORRECTIONAL STAFF

MONICA SOLINAS-SAUNDERS

ERIC G. LAMBERT

Indiana University Northwest

STACY H. HAYNES

Mississippi State University

LINDA D. KEENA

University of Mississippi

MATTHEW C. LEONE

The University of Nevada, Reno

DAVID C. MAY

Mississippi State University

This study employed organizational justice theory to examine the influence of employee perceptions of distributive, proce-

dural, and interactional justice on whether employees trust their supervisors and management. Analysis of survey results from

322 employees of a state prison located in the Southern United States indicate that procedural and interactional justice—but

not distributive justice—predict employee trust in both supervisors and management. These findings present important policy

implications that suggest that the employing organization would benefit from having mechanisms in place to ensure that

decisions follow consistent rules and strategies. Considering the relevance of employee trust to the organization, transparency

in the use of pre-determined standards to allocate resources and rewards fairly needs to become a priority in institutions of

corrections.

Keywords: organizational trust; organizational justice; correctional staff; prison staff

Trust is an essential element of social interactions (Cropanzano & Rupp, 2003). Trust

can be defined as one’s expectations of others’ behavior (Gambetta, 2000). Within

organizations, members must be able to trust one another to conduct their assigned tasks

AUTHORS’ NOTE: The authors are grateful for the work and support of the Editor and the editorial staff,

and the helpful comments provided by the anonymous reviewers. The authors also thank Janet Lambert for

proofreading this paper. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Monica Solinas-

Saunders, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University Northwest, 2135A Dunes MB, 3400

Broadway, Gary, IN 46408; e-mails: msolinas@iu.edu; mon.solinas.saunders@gmail.com.

1232227CJBXXX10.1177/00938548241232227Correctional Staff, Justice, & TrustSolinas-Saunders et al. /

research-article2024

708 CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR

and fulfill the mission of the organization (Mayer et al., 1995). While many organizations

tend to rely on solid legal frameworks to define relationships (e.g., contracts, job descrip-

tions, ethics guidelines), establishing a trusting relationship that goes beyond the legal

framework between the organization’s leadership and its employees is important (Lambert

et al., 2012; Mayer et al., 1995). Organizational trust is the belief by an employee that an

organization will keep its promises and treat the employee in a beneficial manner (Haynes

et al., 2020; Mayer et al., 1995). Organizational trust must be earned. Wheatcroft et al.

(2012) contended that trust in working groups “engenders cooperation, improves commu-

nication, and facilitates effective use of resources” (p. 390). Within correctional settings,

organizational trust is especially relevant. To ensure a humane, safe, and secure facility,

correctional employees perform difficult and complicated operations as they work to fulfill

the facility’s dual missions of custody and rehabilitation (Cullen et al., 1993). Moreover, as

with any other type of organization, correctional staff need to trust that they will be treated

fairly by the organization and that benefits and rewards received are commensurate with

their contribution to the organization (Cohen, 1987).

Organizational trust is an important factor for correctional staff and for the operation of

prisons for several reasons. First, organizational trust is linked to important correctional

outcomes, such as lower job stress, reduced job burnout, greater job involvement, higher

job satisfaction, and increased organizational commitment (Haynes et al., 2020; Kane et al.,

1983; Lambert et al., 2008, 2012, 2020; Lambert, Keena, et al., 2021). These salient out-

comes are positively related to other outcomes, such as work performance, support for

rehabilitation, improved staff treatment of inmates, absenteeism, and turnover intent/turn-

over (Lambert et al., 2010; Lambert, Leone, et al., 2021; A. Liebling & Arnold, 2012; Matz

et al., 2013). Correctional staff turnover is a pressing issue at U.S. correctional facilities.

Recent estimates for annual correctional turnover in the U.S. ranges from 20% to 30%

(Lambert, Solinas-Saunders, et al., 2023). Turnover is expensive and disruptive to the oper-

ations of correctional facilities (Matz et al., 2013).

Organizational trust is influenced by the actions of the organization in terms of the

behaviors and decisions made by supervisors and management, who are seen as represen-

tatives of the organization (Lambert, Keena, et al., 2021). Perceptions of organizational

trust are likely affected by correctional staff perceptions of the organization’s adherence

to fair and just practices, a concept known as organizational justice (Colquitt, 2001;

Colquitt et al., 2001; Lambert, 2003). Organizational justice is the view that the leaders

of an organization treat their staff in a fair manner, and different types of organizational

justice exist (Colquitt, 2012). Distributive, procedural, and interactional justice are salient

types of organizational justice. Distributive justice deals with the views that organiza-

tional outcomes are fair. Procedural justice deals with the views that the procedures used

to reach outcomes are fair. Interactional justice deals with employee views of being

treated in a respectful manner (Colquitt, 2001). While there has been general research on

correctional staff organizational trust, there has been little, if any, published research on

how perceptions of organizational justice are associated with perceptions of organiza-

tional trust among correctional staff.

The current study examined the association of perceptions of distributive, procedural, and

interactional justice with the levels of supervisor and management trust among staff employed

at a prison in the Southern United States. We focused on supervisor and management trust rather

than an overall measure of organizational trust for two reasons. The first reason is that past

research has tested the association of both types of organizational trust (Haynes et al., 2020;