The employment relationships of foreign workers versus local employees: a field study of organizational justice, job satisfaction, performance, and OCB

Abstract Foreign workers seek overseas employment without sponsorship from a firm in their home country and hold temporary work visas in the host country. Despite the rising numbers of foreign workers, there is very little research that examines employment relationships and work behaviors of foreign workers. In this study, we draw on social exchange theory and predict differences in work perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors of foreign versus local employees based on differences in their exchange relationships. We then draw on social comparison theories and propose that these differences in perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors will be accentuated for workers in jobs with high task interdependence. We examined these hypotheses in a field study of 466 ethnic Chinese employees (213 foreign workers from the People's Republic of China and 253 local workers in Singapore with ongoing employment status). Results demonstrate lower distributive justice judgments, performance, and organizational citizenship for foreign versus local employees. Furthermore, results demonstrate that differences in distributive and procedural justice, performance, and organizational citizenship were heightened by task interdependence. We discuss findings and the implications of employing foreign workers. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.