A TEST OF THE GROUP VALUES AND CONTROL MODELS OF PROCEDURAL JUSTICE FROM THE COMPETING PERSPECTIVES OF LABOR AND MANAGEMENT

A path model was developed to determine the predictive power of the group values (Lind & Tyler, 1988) and the self‐interest/control (Thibaut & Walker, 1975) models in the justice judgments of three state impasse resolution procedures for teacher bargaining disputes. Surveys were returned by 90 school superintendents and 74 union presidents from districts that had used the procedures during the last contract negotiations. The group values variables of perceived neutrality of, and trust in, third parties were most predictive of procedural justice judgments. Process control was also predictive of procedural justice judgments, whereas decision control was not. Neither model was predictive of distributive justice judgments. Further, the path analysis clearly indicates the importance in this context of examining procedural and distributive justice from the competing perspectives of labor and management. Labor/management affiliation was strongly related to trust in third parties, perceptions of relative pay, and overall distributive justice judgments.