Owner-Operator Experience and Violations in Trucking: The Mixed Role of Perceived Justice

There is a growing interest in understanding unsafe truck driving due to the increased likelihood of accidents and fatalities caused by speed and load violations. As independent contractors, truck owner-operators have the freedom to engage in exchange relationships with service buyers in a subcontracting supply chain, yet they face operational constrains that lead them to cut corners. In light of this, we present procedural justice (PJ) and distributive justice (DJ), drawing on social exchange theory, as a means of reducing the likelihood of violations by truck owner-operators. We examine these roles in the context of owner-operator experience, which is critical to understanding their behavior with respect to exchange processes and outcomes. Based on a sample of 260 truck owner-operators in South Korea, our analysis reveals a positive relationship between owner-operator experience and trucking violations. Our analysis also shows that perceived PJ is negatively associated with speeding but not with overloading. However, for interaction, experience with PJ reduces overloading but not speeding. Conversely, experience with DJ is negatively associated with overloading but not with speeding. Surprisingly, we find a positive interaction effect of DJ and experience for both overloading and speeding. In summary, our study provides a fine-grained view of the mixed role of perceived justice in the relationship between owner-operator experience and violations in trucking.