RESOLVING THE JUSTICE DILEMMA BY IMPROVING THE OUTCOMES - THE CASE OFEMPLOYEE DRUG SCREENING

In this paper we seek to accomplish two objectives. First, we review a nd describe a phenomenon we call the justice dilemma. We argue that wo rkers often perceive valid assessment practices to be unfair. By using these techniques, employers risk incurring hidden costs that are asso ciated with perceived injustice. Thus, it is sometimes impractical to utilize an assessment technique even though the procedure has good val idity evidence. Our second purpose is to propose and test one way that organizations can resolve the justice dilemma. We do this in the cont ext of workplace drug screening. We argue that employees are often mor e tolerant of controversial assessment techniques to the extent that t hese procedures do not result in particularly negative outcomes. In a field study examining employee reactions to a drug screening program, this proposition was generally supported.