Framing Justice: Using the Concept of Procedural Justice to Advance
Political Communication Research
Abstract
Efforts aimed at increasing civic-minded dialogue among the public must equally
consider what encourages or discourages political engagement. One promising line of research
originating outside of communication examines the role of procedural justice. Procedural justice
essentially argues that individuals care about the fairness of decision-making or deliberative
procedures. In turn, perceptions of fairness influence a host of outcome variables, including
satisfaction with the process, commitment to the organization, and willingness to take voluntary
behaviors on the organization’s behalf. We believe that the concept of procedural justice holds
significant promise for addressing questions in political communication research, particularly
those related to public deliberation. In turn, we offer a synthesis of procedural justice research
before proposing a framework for linking procedural justice to framing research. While
providing much needed attention to a concept largely overlooked in communication, we
endeavor to make more explicit the previously implicit communicative aspects of procedural
justice.