Abstract
The objective of this paper is to elucidate how justice in general and distributive justice in particular is given sense to and made sense of in post-merger integration. Drawing on a longitudinal real time analysis of a recent merger, we identify a pattern where the focus moved from equality to equity to less emphasis on distributive justice. To understand the dynamics involved, we develop a process model that explains how actors reconcile pressures of value creation and socio-political concerns in dialogical sensegiving and sensemaking processes that lead to the enactment of specific norms of justice. This analysis adds to research on M&As by facilitating our understanding of the crucial role that norms of justice play in post-merger integration, of the way in which they change over time as integration processes unfold, and of the inter-group dynamics through which these norms of justice are enacted. By uncovering the micro-dynamics of dialogical sensegiving and sensemaking processes, we also contribute to research on organizational justice, sensemaking, and process studies.