Relationship between Distributive Justice and Organizational Commitment: Job Satisfaction As Mediator among Public Employees in Malaysia

Abstract

Distributive justice is often viewed as a key factor in the retention of an employee in an organization. Rapid economic development and aging population have considerably increased the demand of high-quality employees’ performance to fulfill organizations’ needs. Studies have revealed that dissatisfaction with the fairness of distribution such as pay scales, rewards and benefits provided by the organization causes employees to lose motivation to perform work with full commitment. Thus, this study was conducted to examine the role of job satisfaction as a mediating variable between distributive justice and organizational commitment. This study used a cross-sectional study method to collect data. Primary data were obtained through a questionnaire completed by 114 public servants of government agencies in Peninsular Malaysia. The data obtained were analyzed using SmartPLS 3.3 software to test the research hypotheses. The results of SmartPLS path model analysis showed three significant findings: first, distributive justice has a significant relationship with job satisfaction. Second, distributive justice has a significant relationship with organizational commitment. Third, job satisfaction acts as a mediating variable between organizational fairness and organizational commitment. The implications of the study and discussion are described further