Procedural Justice and Conflict Management at School

• Published in: Negotiation journal 2014-10, Vol.30 (4), p.393-419
• Main Authors: Nelson, Noa, Shechter, Dikla, Ben-Ari, Rachel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescents; Conflict; Conflict management; conflict management styles; Conflict Resolution; dual-concern model; High School Students; Legitimacy; Management Styles; perceived procedural justice; Procedural Justice; Roles; Schools; Secondary school students; Secondary school teachers; student-teacher conflict; Students; Studies; teacher legitimacy; Teachers; Teenagers
• ISSN: 0748-4526; 1571-9979
• DOI: 10.1111/nejo.12074

In this research, we explored the contributions of perceived procedural justice (PPJ) to the conflict management behaviors of adolescents when they experience conflict with their teachers. We tested an extensive model to determine how PPJ contributes to conflict management. We also extended research on PPJ to examine its impact on adolescents. Our results, acquired from a large and diverse sample of 256 high school students, indicate that PPJ had an impact on adolescents' approach to managing conflicts with their teachers. Students who perceived that their teachers' decision processes were just were less dominating and more avoiding, obliging, and compromising. In addition, we found that students' perceptions about the legitimacy of their teachers' authority mediated the relationships between PPJ and conflict management style. This study contributes to the rather scarce research on PPJ's role in conflict management and should be useful for educators searching for constructive, relationship‐based tools for conflict management.