Date of Conferral

2019

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Management

Advisor

Steven C. Tippins

Abstract

Veterans Affairs (VA) inconsistently distributes financial incentives, which might affect how VA employees perceived organizational justice, affecting employees’ job satisfaction and performance. The purpose of this qualitative transcendental phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of VA employees that informed their perceptions of their workplaces’ levels of organizational justice, their job satisfaction, and their performances due to inconsistent distribution of financial incentives by gathering data through interviews with 13 VA employees from the Southeastern United States. The research question concentrated on the lived experiences of VA employees with respect to the inconsistent distribution of financial incentives, and how these experiences shaped their perception of the level of organizational justice in their workplaces. The study was guided by the conceptual framework of social exchange theory, and data was analyzed per Moustakas 7-steps of data analysis. Four major themes emerged from the analysis of interview transcripts: financial incentives, fairness of financial incentives, organizational justice at the VA, and perceptions at VA. The study findings indicated that the allocation of financial incentives by the VA, based on performance appraisals—a product of supervisors, is skewed by supervisor’s relationship with employees, and negatively affects VA employees job satisfaction and commitment. The results of this study could contribute to positive social change by assisting managers and employees in rectifying the perception of the unfair distribution of financial incentives at the VA.

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