Hotel employees' perception of organizational justice and their social courage and organizational voice behaviors

This study contributes to the literature by examining the perceptions of employee voice, social courage in the workplace, and organizational justice (distributive, procedural, and interactional) among employees working in five-star hotels in Afyonkarahisar using a descriptive-comparative approach; providing a comprehensive overview based on variables such as gender, age, education, seniority, length of service at the institution, income, and department. The surveys used measurement tools with proven validity and reliability, such as the organizational justice scale developed by Niehoff and Moorman (1993), the employee voice behavior scale developed by Van Dyne and LePine (1998), and the workplace social courage scale developed by Howard et al. (2017). The purpose of this study is to describe the levels of employee voice, social courage, and organizational justice perceptions among employees of five-star hotels in the sample and to examine whether these levels differ significantly according to demographic characteristics (gender, age, education level, marital status, total and internal seniority, job/position, department, and income range). In this regard, data collected from 309 employees using 1-5 interval scales were analyzed in the SPSS environment, yielding consistent results on a reliable sample. The findings indicate that investments in process transparency and interaction quality have the potential to enhance employee voice. When demographic groups were compared, similar levels were observed in terms of fairness dimensions and income groups, with moderate effect sizes. This situation reveals that perceptions are progressing in a stable structure across the institution and that development focuses may concentrate particularly on making processes transparent, reward/promotion mechanisms based on fair and open criteria, respectful-supportive leadership practices, and feedback channels that foster psychological safety. Overall, the study emphasizes that employee engagement can be meaningfully strengthened through transparent processes, respectful and participatory leadership, and structured feedback mechanisms, offering a framework for improvement aligned with the sector's dynamics. It also provides a useful resource for further exploring these relationships through qualitative data designs in the future.