The Moderating Effect of “Gender Similarity between Manager- Subordinate” on the Relationship between Organisational Justice and Job Satisfaction among Knowledge Workers

K-workers embodying high value tacit knowledge are the linchpin of the k-economy. Their satisfaction with the job is the key to keeping them produce for the organisation. Their perception of how justly they are treated i.e. organisational justice is ever more important in managing the k-workers and in keeping them satisfied. Additionally, the evolving k-workforce will become increasingly feminised. How will this effect the justice and job satisfaction equation? This study explored these two questions using a mailed survey which netted a sample of 401 k-workers with MSC statused companies. The study found that procedural justice is a key factor in job satisfaction of the k-workers. However, gender similarity i.e. female-female or male-male supervisorsupervisee pairs moderates the relationship between justice variables and job satisfaction (JS). The moderation effect of gender similarity is, however, complex. Although the gender factor accounts for only a small amount of variance in JS, it adds to the manager’s toolkit in dealing with k-workers including the women kworkers.