Navigating the COVID-19 Threat: Organizational Justice Matters More under Mortality Salience

Abstract

Studies have shown that fairness is a functional quality, particularly when people are uncertain about fundamental aspects of human life, such as mortality salience (Van den Bos & Miedema, 2000). However, the role of organizational justice in mortality salience has been underexplored in field studies. COVID-19 has caused tens of thousands of deaths across the world. Does justice within an organization matter more to employees exposed to the threat of death from COVID-19? Based on social exchange theory and uncertainty management theory, we hypothesize that organizational justice and COVID-19 trigger mortality salience and jointly influence employee trust in their organizations and their work performance. We tested our hypotheses through a 16-day daily diary study using a sample of Chinese employees (N = 75, 831 total observations) and a three-wave study using a sample of American employees (N = 262). The results of the two studies showed that mortality salience consistently strengthened the effects of justice, as organizational justice was associated with higher levels of trust in the organization and work performance when the mortality salience triggered by COVID-19 was high (versus low). These findings replicate and extend other laboratory studies that apply uncertainty management theory and suggest that organizational justice matters more to employee trust and performance under the threat of COVID-19. Our research also advances social exchange theory by identifying personal uncertainty (i.e., mortality salience) as an important boundary condition through which justice can establish social exchange relationships in organizations.