Exploring the Effects of the Procedural Justice of Downsizing on Survivors' Behaviour

Authors

  • Stefan Komazec Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade, Serbia
  • Milica Maričić Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade, Serbia
  • Mladen Đurić Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade, Serbia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.34.3.31266

Keywords:

downsizing, procedural justice, organisational justice, employee affect, conceptual model

Abstract

Downsizing is seen as a commonly chosen strategy to improve organizational efficiency, effectiveness, performance, competitiveness, and to regain financial stability. After the decision on the downsizing was made and the downsizing was conducted, special attention should be placed on those employees who survived the downsizing. The purpose of this paper is to observe how the procedural fairness of the downsizing method applied impacts the survivers' behaviour. The primary assumption is that the characteristics of the employed downsizing method, here observed Clarity, Validity, and Accuracy, impact the attitudes of survivors viewed through Motivation, Satisfaction, and Turnover Intention. A questionnaire was developed and distributed to 556 employees who had survived downsizing to verify the proposed conceptual model. The results of the study supported the claim that characteristics of the downsizing method influence the survivors' behaviour, whereas Validity stands out for its relatively strong impact on Motivation and Satisfaction with the organisation to which the survivors belong. The findings illustrate that when conducting downsizing, managers and decision makers should consider the fairness of downsizing method applied because, if conducted in an adequate manner, dowsizing can even induce positive behavior of the surviving members.

Author Biographies

Stefan Komazec, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade, Serbia

Stefan Komazec, PhD in field of Organizational Sciences, is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Business System Organization, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade. His field of research are organizational restructuring, downsizing, business process modelling and optimization. He published more than 50 papers and is cited more than 150 time in Google Scholar database.

Milica Maričić, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade, Serbia

Milica Maričić graduated from the University of Belgrade and pursued a PhD in the field of Computational Statistics at the same University. Since 2015, she is employed at the Department of Operations Research and Statistics, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade. She currently works as an Assistant Professor. Her fields of research are composite indicators, rankings, structural modelling, and applied statistics, especially in the sphere of sports and marketing. She published more than 15 Web of Science indexed papers and is cited more than 300 times in Google Scholar database.

Mladen Đurić, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade, Serbia

Mladen Đurić, PhD in Organizational sciences, Associate Professor at the Department of Quality Management and Standardization, Faculty of Organizational Sciences, University of Belgrade. Head of Delegation - Republic of Serbia, at the ISO/TC 260 Human resource management (ISO - International Organization for Standardization). President of the National Committee for Human Resource Management Standardization and member of the National Committee for Sustainability and Social Responsibility at Institute for Standardization of Serbia (ISS). External Expert Advisor, Jury Member and Trainer in the fields of different management systems with related standards, at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia.

Additional Files

Published

2023-06-23

Issue

Vol. 34 No. 3 (2023)

Section

Articles