A Study on the Formation of Organizational Legitimacy Perception of Newcomer Employees: Broadening the Organizational Justice-trust Relationship

The present study is based on the context of socialization in the formation of organizational legitimacy perception of newcomer employees. Specifically, it borrows from the legal socialization literature to broaden the implications of organizational justice by considering organizational legitimacy perception as an outcome. This study applies the organizational theories of fairness heuristic and psychological contract fulfillment to outline the process of formation of organizational legitimacy perception for newcomer employees. Further, it outlines the mediational role of trustworthiness and its multiple dimensions such as ability, benevolence, and integrity in the relationship between organizational justice and organizational legitimacy. Further, supervisor referent interpersonal justice has been examined to moderate this mediation. The findings suggest that the indirect relationship between interactional justice and legitimacy is partially mediated and indirect relationship between procedural justice and legitimacy is fully mediated through all the three dimensions of trustworthiness. Theoretical implications of the results are discussed as well.