How can justice be used to improve employee selection practices?

The 10 years since the publication of Gilliland's (1993) organizational justice model of employee selection have witnessed the development of a large body of research on applicants' perceptions of justice. We review this literature by considering three stages of the employee selection process: Recruiting and initial communication, screening and selection, and decision making and communication. Although the preponderance of research has considered the second stage, existing research suggests that interpersonal and informational justice are salient at all stages, whereas procedural justice is most salient during screening and selection, and distributive justice is most salient during decision making and communication. We suggest that researchers should consider the dynamic nature of justice reactions, with the primary determinants of fairness perceptions changing over the course of the hiring process. We also argue that in focusing solely on applicants' reactions, research has failed to examine how employees might perceive justice in selection processes and decisions.