The impact of organizational justice on work performance : Mediating effects of organizational commitment and leader‐member exchange

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a model that identifies the impact of organizational justice on work performance. The model examined the mediating role played by organizational commitment and leader‐member exchange (LMX) in linking organizational justice and work performance. Design/methodology/approach – The data were collected from 793 completed questionnaires sampling employees from industries across the People's Republic of China. The questionnaire included scales to measure organizational justice, organizational commitment, LMX, and work performance. The measurement of constructs and the hypothesized relationships among variables were assessed by the use of structural equation modeling. The Baron and Kenny approach was used to test the mediating effects. Findings – First, the relationship of organizational justice to work performance was mostly indirect, mediated by organizational commitment and LMX. Second, among the three kinds of organizational justice, interactional justice was the best predictor of performance. Lastly, organizational commitment accounted for more of the variance than LMX did in the mediating mechanism. Research limitations/implications – The model developed in this article provides important insights in the study of the relationship between organizational justice and work performance. Future research needs to examine the model using a cross‐national sample. Originality/value – The link between organizational justice and work performance was mostly mediated by organizational commitment and LMX.