Fairness perceptions and union intentions among U.S. workers: Evidence of a cognition action gap

Abstract

Public approval of unions in the United States has risen to levels not seen in decades, yet union membership remains near historic lows. This study examines whether workers' perceptions of organizational justice explain this representation gap. Drawing on organizational justice theory and the concept of union instrumentality, we surveyed 600 U.S. wage and salary workers, evenly divided between union members and nonmembers, and retained 593 usable responses. Analysis proceeded in three stages: descriptive and Mann Whitney Wilcoxon comparisons, stability selected LASSO network analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis followed by multigroup structural equation modeling with invariance testing. Distributive justice and union instrumentality were empirically indistinguishable and were combined into a single Justice Instrumentality construct. Procedural justice strongly predicted Justice Instrumentality (standardized β = .76 to .80), but neither procedural justice nor Justice Instrumentality significantly predicted union orientation, and explained variance in union orientation was minimal (R² ≈ .01). Structural paths were equivalent across union and nonunion groups. These results suggest that fair procedures shape beliefs about what unions can deliver without translating into pro union intentions, a pattern we term the cognition action gap. Because the design is cross sectional and measures intentions rather than behavior, the gap should be treated as a proposition for longitudinal testing. We discuss implications for employers and for union organizing strategy.