Beyond Teaching: Multiple Roles Played by University Professors and the Perception of Organizational Justice

Objective: To analyze the relationship between the multiple roles of university professors and the perception of organizational justice among professors in the business field at Brazilian universities. Method: An online questionnaire was administered to faculty members from Business Administration, Public Administration, and Accounting Sciences programs at 79 Brazilian universities (49 public, 23 private, and 7 mixed). The hypotheses were tested using Spearman’s correlation and group differences analysis. Results and Contributions: Simultaneous role performance is common in universities. Professors in the “educator” role tend to have lower perceptions of justice regarding the distribution of rewards. In contrast, professors in the “researcher” role exhibit higher perceptions of justice regarding decision-making procedures. Additionally, perceptions of justice increase among those in the “extensionist” and “manager” roles, but only with respect to task distributive justice. Significant differences were found between those performing multiple roles simultaneously and those performing a single role. This study’s results highlight the importance of discussing the configuration of university professors in Brazil and their perceptions of justice.