The fairness of affirmative action : in the eye of the beholder
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Authors
Coetzee, Mariette
Bezuidenhout, Magda L.
Issue Date
2011
Type
Article
Language
en
Keywords
Affirmative action , Organisational justice , Fairness
Alternative Title
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to identify the major components of
affi rmative action (AA) fairness from an organisational justice point
of view and to measure the perceptions of employees on AA fairness.
9A literature study and an empirical study were conducted. A
questionnaire was developed to collect information on respondents’
biographical details and their perceptions of the fairness of AA.
10Using SPSS, principal axis factor analysis was performed on the data,
with a Varimax rotation, in order to uncover the diff erent factors
related to affi rmative action fairness. Four factors with latent roots
greater than unity (Kaiser’s criteria) were extracted from the factor
matrix of affi rmative action. The factors postulating affi rmative
action fairness included interactional justice, procedural justice
(input), procedural justice (criteria) and distributive justice.
11The infl uence and eff ect of the biographical variables on fairness
perceptions were determined by comparing the responses of various
employee subsets with one another by means of univariate and
multivariate analysis of variance. The results of the t-tests revealed
that staff category and ethnicity have a statistically signifi cant
eff ect on employees’ perceptions of the distributive justice of AA.
Decisions such as granting AA employees token positions, paying
unrealistically high salaries to AA managers and appointing lessqualifi
ed AA employees play a key role when employees form
perceptions of the fairness of AA.
Description
Citation
Coetzee, M. & Bezuidenhout, M. 2011. The fairness of affirmative action : in the eye of the beholder. Southern African Business Review, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 75-96.
Publisher
UNISA
License
Journal
Volume
Issue
PubMed ID
DOI
ISSN
1561-896X