The Effect of Organizational Justice on Organizational Citizenship Behavior by Mediating Job Commitment in the Context of Project Management

In developing a successful Information Technology (IT) development project today, good IT personnel are crucial. However, just achieving and maintaining their skills is not sufficient; they must contribute to the project in a meaningful fashion, including their supportive activity: organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). However, IT personnel have different motivational factors, informal behavior patterns, and exhibit OCBs different from those in other fields. In addition, projects present a different face than operations in an organization and alter the context of OCBs. This combination leads to a unique setting where the perceptions of equity by IS employees in project teams are unlikely to follow patterns established for functional operations. To determine if perceived equity can lead to desirable attitudes and behavior in this novel setting, we surveyed IS team members of development projects. Data from 141 respondents in projects teams indicated that equity, as measured by perceptions of justice, add to job commitment, which serves as a mediator between the justice and OCBs. Therefore, project leaders must strive to raise people's understanding of equality in the distribution of rewards and behaviors.