THE COST OF PERCEIVED INJUSTICE: HOW PROCEDURAL AND INTERACTIONAL JUSTICE SHAPE IMPOSTOR FEELINGS THROUGH A GENDER IDENTITY LENS

Abstract

Workplace injustice is widespread, costing U.S. organizations an estimated $914.7 billion annually through lost productivity and turnover. Research further suggests that women, in particular, may face unique forms of workplace discrimination and bias, including limited advancement opportunities, pay disparities, and heightened evaluative scrutiny, which can shape their experiences of fairness and belonging at work (Prakash et al., 2024; Feenstra et al., 2020). Accordingly, it is important to consider the role of social identities in shaping how employees perceive and respond to organizational justice. The present study examined how procedural justice (fairness in decision-making) and interactional justice (fairness in interpersonal treatment) influence impostor feelings, defined as internal experiences of self-doubt in which competent individuals struggle to internalize their accomplishments and fear being exposed as frauds. Although these constructs have been extensively studied independently, research examining their intersection in workplace contexts remains limited. Drawing on identity theory, this study focused on gender identity prominence to examine how social identities influence responses to workplace injustice. Using a 2 (procedural justice: high vs. low) x 2 (interactional justice: high vs. low) experimental vignette design with a sample of working women and non-binary individuals, participants reported impostor feelings, workability, and related self-perceptions. Results indicated that individuals in the high interactional justice condition reported lower perceptions of impostor feelings compared to those in the low interactional justice condition. Additionally, individuals in the high procedural justice condition reported higher perceptions of impostor feelings compared to those in the low procedural justice condition, suggesting that organizational procedures and decision-making may influence individuals’ internal self-evaluations in different ways. Notably, the interaction between procedural and interactional justice was not significant, further indicating that these forms of justice operate independently in predicting impostor feelings. Gender identity prominence was positively related to impostor feelings but did not moderate the relationship between justice and impostor feelings. Additionally, impostor feelings did not predict workability, whereas self-esteem and general self-efficacy emerged as stronger predictors of workability. These findings highlight the multidimensional nature of organizational justice and support a contextualized understanding of impostor feelings as workplace experiences.