Organizational punishment from the manager's perspective: An exploratory study

Researchers have been giving increased attention to organizational punishment from the perspective of the manager who delivers the punishment. We build upon previous theoretical work to examine how managers think about punishment. We propose relationships among managers' beliefs, characteristics of the punishment event (i.e., fairness-based punishment practices such as punishing in a constructive manner or punishing in private), and managers' perceptions of the procedural and distributive justice of the punishment event. Bivariate correlations and a structural equation analysis generally support the hypothesized relationships. Implications for managers and future research are discussed.