The Meaning and Essence of Rationalizing Workplace Injustice: A Phenomenological Study

The extant literature on organizational justice (OJ) involves employee perceptions of fairness and justice in workplace decisions, outcomes, procedures, and interpersonal treatment. This research examined the dark side of these justice dimensions, including injustice acts of discrimination, bias, and unfair treatment. Workplace injustice is not an uncommon occurrence; however, a different reality emerges as employees are rationalizing their experiences. In this context rationalization involves individuals creating plausible explanations to justify the injustice, making it more acceptable and the psychological processes individuals employ through rationalizing. This qualitative study employed an interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) examining the lived experiences of 12 participants. Semi-structured interviews provided the data to understand individual injustice experiences. Through a process of coding and thematic development, the findings revealed key themes highlighting the role of organizational dynamics, participants’ perceptions, attributions, sensemaking, coping strategies and resilience. System justification theory (SJT) is uniquely applied from an organizational behavior context and provides a foundation for understanding why individuals defend and justify unfair systems despite their negative effects. Various responses to injustice emerged from rarely challenging, rationalizing, or passively accepting. The current political climate to dismantle equitable programs is concerning. Political pressures to minimize or ignore these issues create broader implications and added challenges, especially for organizations striving for just and equitable work environments. Organizations committed to these values can still make it a priority.