Influence of Vicarious Justice on Work Behavior: Role of Affect & Retributive Intent

This paper examined effects of vicarious interpersonal/ procedural justice on behavior intent namely counterproductive work behavior (CWB) and in-role behavior with affective reactions and revenge motives examined as mediators. Two experimental studies were conducted on two different groups of students (N=199 and 179) using role playing vignettes. The findings show vicarious justice influences CWB but not in-role behavior with affect and revenge motives as mediators in serial. This research highlights the role of respectful treatment for all in curbing workplace deviance, as uninvolved observers can have retaliatory intentions. This study contributes to justice research by extending previous research to vicarious justice. It also empirically tests affect (both positive and negative) and revenge motives as mediators which have been overlooked by previous studies.