The effect of nepotism on perceived organizational justice in family businesses

When the share of family businesses in the businesses in the countries is examined, it is seen that the majority of the businesses are family businesses. One of the main problems of family businesses, which have an important role in the country's economy, is nepotism. The concept of nepotism, which expresses kin selection as a type of favoritism, shows itself in family businesses where kinship relations come to the fore. These favoritist practices in family businesses go through some evaluations in the minds of employees who are part of the organization. This judgment of the individual regarding the favoritism creates the perception of justice and this perception of justice expresses the concept of organizational justice. In this sense, the effect of nepotism practices in family businesses on the organizational justice perception of employees is important. The aim of this study is to reveal the effect of nepotism practices in family businesses on the organizational justice perception of employees. In addition, it was also examined whether the demographic characteristics of the employees such as gender, age, working time in the enterprise, professional seniority differ according to nepotism and perceived organizational justice. For this purpose, a survey was conducted with 397 white-collar family business employees working in the province of Çorum, which constitutes the sample of the research, with a quantitative paradigm. The data obtained in the study were analyzed by the SPSS program. In the analysis of data; independent samples t-test, one-way analysis of variance (Anova), Pearson correlation analysis and regression analysis were applied. As a result of the analyzes, it was found that the recruetment and process dimensions of nepotism had a negative effect on perceived organizational justice, the promotion dimension did not have a significant effect, and these three dimensions constituting nepotism were 14% explanatory on the change in perceived organizational justice (Adjusted R2=0.147). In addition, nepotism differs according to the professional seniority and education level of the employees; On the other hand, it was found that perceived organizational justice differs according to the age of the employees, their working time in the enterprise, their professional seniority and education level.