Gender Differences in Organizational Justice Evaluations: Evidence from fMRI

Organizational justice research examining gender differences has yielded mixed findings. In this study, we use fMRI methods to examine gender differences evident in brain activation patterns in response to procedural and distributive justice. We integrate social role, information processing, justice, and neuroscience theories to set the stage for expectations of gender differences in justice evaluations. Specifically, we test activation patterns in two neural subsystems that have been identified as being involved in the appraisal of self- relevant events. Our results indicate that gender has a significant influence on brain activation, with greater activation for females than males during evaluations of both procedural and distributive justice, as well as procedural and distributive injustice. Managerial implications are presented based on the study’s support for gender differences in organizational justice perceptions.