Volume 81, Issue 4 p. 691-711

Exploring the linkages between formal ownership and psychological ownership for the organization: The mediating role of organizational justice

Nai-Wen Chi

Corresponding Author

Nai-Wen Chi

Department of Business Administration, National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan

Correspondence should be addressed to Dr Nai-Wen Chi, Department of Business Administration, National Chengchi University, Taipei 116, Taiwan (e-mail: [email protected]).Search for more papers by this author
Tzu-Shian Han

Tzu-Shian Han

Department of Business Administration, National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan

Search for more papers by this author
First published: 24 December 2010
Citations: 81

Abstract

Extending previous research on formal ownership and psychological ownership in organizations, this study simultaneously examines the relationships between employee participation in three formal ownership programmes (i.e. profit sharing, participation in decision making, access to business information) and psychological ownership for the organization, while also exploring the mediating roles of distributive and procedural justice. Data were collected from 387 R&D engineers based at 20 high-technology firms in Taiwan. A structural equation modelling analysis was conducted to test our hypotheses, and the results show that employee participation in profit sharing, decision making, and access to business information were all positively related to psychological ownership. Moreover, distributive justice fully mediated the relationship between participation in profit sharing and psychological ownership, while procedural justice mediated the relationship between participation in decision making, access to business information, and psychological ownership.