Career development for going beyond the call of duty: is it perceived as fair?

The present study examined the effects of rewarding contextual performance with career development activities on perceptions of justice. Participants (264) read vignettes which gave information regarding two colleagues in a large retail store who applied for a career development activity. Type of career development activity, level of contextual performance, and the development activity recipient was varied across the vignettes. Results indicated that participants believed there was greater justice when they themselves received the development activity, irrespective of whose performance was higher. Participants were also more satisfied and had greater interest in pursuing a career in the organization when they themselves received the development opportunity, especially for organizationally‐oriented activities. Happiness completely mediated the relationship between who received the career development activity and both procedural and distributive justice. Implications of these findings for organizational justice and careers research, as well as for managers, are discussed.