Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
947473 International Journal of Intercultural Relations 2009 11 Pages PDF
Abstract

This study looked into possible relationships between workplace organizational communication tactics, workers’ feelings of trust, and workers’ perceptions of procedural justice. Raw data was collected by questionnaires, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to reveal the relationships. The subjects in the study were Japanese (N = 417) and American (N = 591) workers, surveyed in a period running up to late May 2004. For both the Japanese and the Americans, perceived procedural justice was influenced positively by rational communication tactics, and negatively by hard communication tactics; and soft communication tactics did not relate to perceived procedural justice. In the case of Japanese workers, it was found that, after controlling for perceived procedural justice, soft, rational, and hard communication tactics affected trust in different ways: positively, positively, and negatively, respectively. Therefore, perceived procedural justice had a partially mediating effect on the relationships between rational and hard communication tactics and trust. In contrast, for the Americans, there were no direct relationships between communication tactics and trust; rather, there were indirect effects from rational and hard communication tactics, via perceived procedural justice as a full mediator. The influence of three communication tactics on trust was much stronger for Japanese workers than their American counterparts. On the other hand, the influence of hard and rational communication tactics on perceived procedural justice and that of perceived procedural justice on trust were much stronger for American workers than their Japanese counterparts. Based on the results, some academic and practical implications are presented.

Related Topics
Social Sciences and Humanities Business, Management and Accounting Business and International Management
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