An Investigation into the Effect of Organizational Justice on Employees’ Job Satisfaction Among Government Health Workers in Kalomo District, Zambia

Abstract

The primary purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between organizational justice and levels of work satisfaction. The specific objectives were; to determine the effect of distributive Justice on employee job satisfaction of health workers in Kalomo district; to determine the effect of procedural justice on employee job satisfaction of health workers in Kalomo district and to determine the effect of Interactional Justice on employee job satisfaction of health workers in Kalomo district. In this study, the research sampled four health facilities, namely; the Request Muntanga Hospital, Kalomo Urban Clinic, Namwianga Mission Hospital and Mawaya Clinic. The study used purposive and convenience sampling techniques to select the participants from the selected health facilities. The study administered 205 questionnaires to health practitioners in Kalomo district and observed that 38 questionnaires were incomplete and could not be analyzed while 20 questionnaires were not retrieved because the respondents were unreachable during the period of data collection. This entailed that 147 were completed and analyzed in the study translating into a response rate of 72%. Using multiple regression analysis, the data were analyzed. According to the results of the research conducted, distributive justice, procedural justice, and interactional justice are all correlated adversely with levels of work satisfaction. This suggested that equitable sharing of the duties and rewards of social cooperation among health practitioners in Kalomo whose individual needs and claims are in conflict with one another (distributive justice) diminished their work satisfaction. In addition, the fairness of the processes that health practitioners in positions of power use in order to arrive at certain results or decisions (procedural justice) caused a drop in the level of employee job satisfaction experienced by other health workers in subordinate positions. Last but not least, the health care workers' perception that they are being treated fairly when their employers offered explanations for their decisions and treated their employees with decency, respect, and sensitivity (interactional justice) led to a decrease in the employee job satisfaction of the health care workers. The findings of the study indicated that, in general, health care institutions in Zambia suffer from a lack of organizational justice. To be more specific, unhappiness with procedural justice, followed by discontent with distributive justice, and then dissatisfaction with interactional justice, was the leading source of job dissatisfaction among health workers. This shows that management in health institutions do not adhere to processes in their entirety when dealing with employee matters, and this can be related to inefficient communication between the two parties. The study recommended among other things that superiors in health facilities should treat health workers with dignity and respect as well as show them empathy. This creates an impression that they are valued in the work place. In addition, management in health facilities should enhance their communication strategy as this is instrumental in ensuring that employees are abreast with the necessary information to operate on a day to day basis