The relationship between job burnout and organizational justice in Iranian nurses: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

This study was conducted to identify job burnout and its relationship with organizational justice among nurses employed in educational hospitals in Sari, Iran. The present cross-sectional study was conducted on 291 nurses employed in educational hospitals. The data collection tools included a questionnaire on demographic characteristics, organizational justice questionnaires by Niehoff and Moorman, and Maslach Burnout Inventory. A total of 262 nurses were included in this research. The mean of the total organizational justice score and the components of job burnout including emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment scores were 52.38 (SD=16.04), 36.64 (SD=11.05), 14.28 (SD=4.9), and 65.64 (SD=5.98), respectively. The results related to the level of organizational justice showed that the lowest mean score was obtained in the distributive justice dimension of organizational justice, while the highest mean score was obtained in the interactional justice dimension. The Pearson correlation coefficient indicated a negative and significant correlation between organizational justice and the number of overtime hours per month (r=-0.16, P=0.012). The results of the present study show that organizational justice has a significant effect on the occurrence of job burnout among nurses, and nursing service managers should adhere to justice and apply it in the organization to reduce job burnout and increase nurses' trust, commitment, satisfaction, motivation, and performance.