Perception of social justice implication in brain drain management in Iranian educational institutions

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study brain drain as a social problem and elaborate a five‐dimensional social justice model as the main cause of brain drain. The paper explores the effects of distributional justice, emotional justice, procedural justice, transactional justice, and informational justice on brain drain intention.

Design/methodology/approach

The method of research is survey method. This research is functional in terms of target and is descriptive. Moreover, the research is a field study from the information gathering perspective; and from the aspect of relationship between variables, it has casual type.

Findings

The results of this study demonstrate that justice is a critical issue among the scientific elites of Iranian society. This study demonstrates the existence of a negative relationship between social justice and intention to emigrate (brain drain) in Iran.

Research limitations/implications

Despite the lack of precise statistical information in this area, the paper seeks to critically analyze the brain drain phenomenon in Iran. The use of questionnaire meant that more in‐depth analysis was not possible to obtain.

Practical implications

It is important to prevent elite emigration, particularly since elites represent vital cultural, social, and economic capital. In relation to informational justice, which is not likely to act as a single cause of brain drain but acts in concert with other factors, it should be recalled that communication plays a vital role.

Originality/value

Surprisingly, no empirical research has yet been done in Iran to examine possible relationship between occurrence and/or the rate of the talent flow and social justice.

Citation

Salmani, D., Taleghani, G. and Taatian, A. (2011), "Perception of social justice implication in brain drain management in Iranian educational institutions", Education, Business and Society: Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues, Vol. 4 No. 1, pp. 19-32. https://doi.org/10.1108/17537981111111247