Research Project
7121989
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This study is an analysis of the relationships between scientists' perceptions of procedural justice and their behaviors, both positive and negative, related to the integrity of their research. We will examine these relationships between the context of scientists' work and their behavior at 3 different levels: the academic department, the institution, and the task environment which encompasses the web of external agents (funding agencies, regulatory bodies, disciplinary organizations, etc.) that relate directly to scientists' research. Procedural justice here refers to individual's perceptions about the fairness of decision-making in organizations, particularly in the procedures that determine the distribution of resources. We hypothesize that when scientists perceive violations of procedural justice, that is, believe that decision-making about resources that affect themselves and their work is unfair; they will exhibit negative "corrective responses" such as misbehavior in research or other conduct that runs counter to normative expectations in science. On the other hand, when scientists perceive procedural justice, they will be more likely to behave in accordance with the highest standards of research integrity. We will base our analyses on data from a national survey of an appropriately nested random sample of 5,000 scientists in the health sciences, medicine, biology, chemistry and the social sciences. Our specific aims are 1) to estimate perceptions of procedural injustice among these scientists, with respect to the 3 levels of science listed above; 2) estimate the degree of association between these perceptions and both positive and negative behaviors related to research integrity, and 3) determine the extent to which respondents' social identity as scientists affects this association. Our long-term objective is to develop assessment tools for the measurement of scientists' perceptions of procedural justice in their work environments, as well as recommendations for interventions specific to the contextual levels that show the strongest relationships between perceptions of injustice and negative behaviors.
