Effects of Employee Governance and Operational Control on Psychological Ownership and Perceived Justice

Two kinds of employee control, governance control in which employees have similar control to shareholders in the direction of the organisation, and operational control in which they have control over the way they work, were investigated in four scenario studies. Study 1 found that greater levels of formal governance control enhanced psychological ownership, perceived justice, organizational commitment and satisfaction. Study 2 found that psychological ownership, perceived justice, organizational commitment and satisfaction increased with increased levels of both governance and operational control, and the effects of the two forms of control were largely independent. In Study 3, higher proportions of at-risk income produced greater feelings of ownership and higher ratings of the importance of governance and operational control but decreases in perceived justice. Study 4 showed that increased operational control, governance control and proportion of at-risk income all enhanced psychological ownership and justice. However, this study also showed low levels of perceived justice where there was governance control without an at-risk income component. Overall, having both governance and operational control appears to produces the best outcomes in terms of psychological ownership and perceived justice.