Organizational justice as buffer against stressful job demands

Abstract

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of organizational justice in the context of Karasek’s job demand-control model. It is suggested that employees benefit from organizational justice in order to cope with high job demands. Furthermore, it is argued that justice perceptions are a precondition for the buffering role of job control with respect to job demands.Design/methodology/approach– A cross-sectional study on employees (n=197) in nursing houses was used. The hypotheses were tested by hierarchal regression analysis.Findings– Results showed that organizational justice buffered for the positive effect of job demands on turnover intentions and for the negative effect of job demands on job satisfaction. Furthermore, the results showed that justice serves as an important precondition for the moderating role of job control on the effect of job demands on job satisfaction and turnover intentions. Justice appeared to strengthen the role of job control as a buffer for high job demands.Originality/value– The importance of organizational justice with respect to job design and personnel practices has been demonstrated. New is the finding that justice can strengthen the role of job control as a buffer for high job demands.