Investigating the Effects of Applicant Justice Perceptions on Job Offer Acceptance

Abstract

Drawing on extant recruitment and organizational justice theory, this research examines the effects of justice perceptions on job acceptance decisions across two samples (n=332 and 2,974) of applicants to jobs within the United States Military. More specifically we examine justice-job offer acceptance relations relative to other pertinent recruitment predictors including, organizational image, familiarity, person-organization (P-O) fit perceptions, and recruiter behaviors. Findings from both studies support the importance of justice perceptions in influencing job offer acceptance. Fairness perceptions accounted for 29.37% and 19.22% of the unique variance in job offer acceptance, in Studies 1 and 2, respectively. The results of this research provide much needed empirical evidence to the scant literature on actual job acceptance and highlight important practical implications for employers.