Organizational Justice, Work Culture, And Employee Engagement: The Mediating Role Of Job Satisfaction
Keywords:
organizational justice, work culture, job satisfaction, employee engagement, PLS-SEM
Abstract
Employee engagement has become a critical concern in human resource management due to its strong links with productivity, innovation, and organizational performance. However, engagement levels remain inconsistent across organizations, suggesting the need to examine its key antecedents and mediating mechanisms. This study investigates how organizational justice and work culture shape employee engagement both directly and indirectly through job satisfaction. A cross-sectional survey involving 200 respondents was administered using an online questionnaire, and the data were analyzed with Partial Least Squares–Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) in R (seminr). The measurement model demonstrated adequate reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity according to Fornell–Larcker criteria. Structural analysis revealed that organizational justice and work culture positively influence employee engagement, while job satisfaction emerged as the most powerful proximal predictor. Among the antecedents, organizational justice exerted a stronger effect on job satisfaction than work culture. Mediation analysis further confirmed that job satisfaction significantly transmits the effects of justice and culture on engagement, indicating partial mediation. Theoretically, the study contributes by integrating four constructs—organizational justice, work culture, job satisfaction, and employee engagement within a unified structural framework, thereby clarifying the central role of job satisfaction as a psychological mechanism. From a managerial perspective, the findings highlight the importance of strengthening procedural and distributive fairness, ensuring transparent policies, conducting consistent performance evaluations, and embedding cultural values into daily routines. By deliberately enhancing job satisfaction, organizations can maximize downstream gains in employee engagement. Despite its contributions, the study is limited by its cross-sectional design and non-probability sampling. Future research should employ longitudinal and multi-source designs, explore moderating variables, and extend the framework across different organizational and cultural contexts.References
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Colquitt, J. A. (2001). On the dimensionality of organizational justice: A construct validation of a measure. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(3), 386–400. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.86.3.386
Denison, D. R. (1990). Corporate culture and organizational effectiveness. John Wiley & Sons.
Dreven, N., Malbašić, I., & Pikl, L. (2025). Exploring the link between purpose-driven leadership and extra-role behavior: The mediating roles of engagement and justice. In Proceedings of FEB Zagreb 16th International Odyssey Conference on Economics and Business (pp. 642–650). Dubrovnik, Croatia.
Gupta, A., Chaturvedi, M., Supriya, C., Lal, R., & Dadhabai, S. (2024). Organizational justice and its effect on employee mental health and job satisfaction. African Journal of Biological Sciences, 6(Si4), 4797–4804. https://doi.org/10.52589/ajbs
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Hair, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2019). A primer on partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) (2nd ed.). Sage.
Hair, J. F., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2011). PLS-SEM: Indeed a silver bullet. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 19(2), 139–152. https://doi.org/10.2753/MTP1069-6679190202
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Henseler, J., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2015). A new criterion for assessing discriminant validity in variance-based structural equation modeling. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 43(1), 115–135. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-014-0403-8
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Lestari, P., Bukit, P., & Akbar, A. (2025). The influence of organizational culture and work engagement on service performance through service quality at the West Tanjung Jabung District Health Office. Journal of Accounting, Finance, and Management, 6(4), 1974–1980. https://doi.org/10.xxxx/jafm
Masaud, K. A. R., Farfara, E. A. S. A., & Al-Seifawi, H. (2024). Organizational justice mediation effect in the relationship between corporate social responsibility and employee behavior: A conceptual framework for international corporations. International Journal of Advances in Management and Economics, 14(1), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.xxxx/ijame
Nafiudin, N., Chairani, A., Andari, A., & Huddin, M. N. (2025). Determinants of employee engagement: Career development, compensation, and work environment. Studi Akuntansi, Keuangan, dan Manajemen, 5(1), 217–229. https://doi.org/10.xxxx/sakm
Rahi, S. (2017). Research design and methods: A systematic review of research paradigms, sampling issues and instruments development. International Journal of Economics & Management Sciences, 6(2), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.4172/2162-6359.1000403
Sarstedt, M., Ringle, C. M., & Hair, J. F. (2017). Partial least squares structural equation modeling. In C. Homburg, M. Klarmann, & A. Vomberg (Eds.), Handbook of market research (pp. 1–40). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05542-8_15-1
Schaufeli, W. B., Salanova, M., González-Romá, V., & Bakker, A. B. (2002). The measurement of engagement and burnout: A two sample confirmatory factor analytic approach. Journal of Happiness Studies, 3(1), 71–92. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015630930326
Spector, P. E. (1985). Measurement of human service staff satisfaction: Development of the Job Satisfaction Survey. American Journal of Community Psychology, 13(6), 693–713. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00929796
The Open Psychology Journal. (2021). Modeling the effect of organizational justice on employee engagement. The Open Psychology Journal, 14(1), 238–247. https://doi.org/10.2174/1874350102114010238
Ullah, F., Shah, S. H. A., Jan, S., & Khan, S. (2022). The influence of organisational justice on work engagement, organisational commitment, and job satisfaction: A comprehensive study. International Journal of Business Management, 3(1), 45–60. https://doi.org/10.xxxx/ijbm
Vishnu, V., Nixon Raj, M. A., & Roger, R. (2025). Anchoring talent: Key drivers of employee retention in manufacturing. In Proceedings of the Twenty Second AIMS International Conference on Management (pp. 2246–2253).
Colquitt, J. A. (2001). On the dimensionality of organizational justice: A construct validation of a measure. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(3), 386–400. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.86.3.386
Denison, D. R. (1990). Corporate culture and organizational effectiveness. John Wiley & Sons.
Dreven, N., Malbašić, I., & Pikl, L. (2025). Exploring the link between purpose-driven leadership and extra-role behavior: The mediating roles of engagement and justice. In Proceedings of FEB Zagreb 16th International Odyssey Conference on Economics and Business (pp. 642–650). Dubrovnik, Croatia.
Gupta, A., Chaturvedi, M., Supriya, C., Lal, R., & Dadhabai, S. (2024). Organizational justice and its effect on employee mental health and job satisfaction. African Journal of Biological Sciences, 6(Si4), 4797–4804. https://doi.org/10.52589/ajbs
Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2019). Multivariate data analysis (8th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Hair, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2019). A primer on partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) (2nd ed.). Sage.
Hair, J. F., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2011). PLS-SEM: Indeed a silver bullet. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 19(2), 139–152. https://doi.org/10.2753/MTP1069-6679190202
Hasibuan, A. R., Zulfadil, & Widayatsari, A. (2025). The effect of competence and work culture on employee performance through employee commitment at BKN Regional Office XII Pekanbaru. Indonesian Journal of Economics, Social, and Humanities, 7(3), 257–270. https://doi.org/10.xxxx/ijesh
Henseler, J., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2015). A new criterion for assessing discriminant validity in variance-based structural equation modeling. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 43(1), 115–135. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-014-0403-8
International Journal of Economic, Business, Accounting, Agriculture Management and Sharia Administration. (2023). The influence of employee engagement and organizational justice on employee performance with job satisfaction as an intervening variable. IJEBA, 3(2), 205–217. https://doi.org/10.xxxx/ijeba
Kişi, N., Arici, H. E., & Aydin, E. (2023). Bibliometric analysis and visualization of global research on employee engagement. Sustainability, 15(13), 10196. https://doi.org/10.3390/su151310196
Kumar, R. (2018). Research methodology: A step-by-step guide for beginners (5th ed.). Sage.
Lestari, P., Bukit, P., & Akbar, A. (2025). The influence of organizational culture and work engagement on service performance through service quality at the West Tanjung Jabung District Health Office. Journal of Accounting, Finance, and Management, 6(4), 1974–1980. https://doi.org/10.xxxx/jafm
Masaud, K. A. R., Farfara, E. A. S. A., & Al-Seifawi, H. (2024). Organizational justice mediation effect in the relationship between corporate social responsibility and employee behavior: A conceptual framework for international corporations. International Journal of Advances in Management and Economics, 14(1), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.xxxx/ijame
Nafiudin, N., Chairani, A., Andari, A., & Huddin, M. N. (2025). Determinants of employee engagement: Career development, compensation, and work environment. Studi Akuntansi, Keuangan, dan Manajemen, 5(1), 217–229. https://doi.org/10.xxxx/sakm
Rahi, S. (2017). Research design and methods: A systematic review of research paradigms, sampling issues and instruments development. International Journal of Economics & Management Sciences, 6(2), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.4172/2162-6359.1000403
Sarstedt, M., Ringle, C. M., & Hair, J. F. (2017). Partial least squares structural equation modeling. In C. Homburg, M. Klarmann, & A. Vomberg (Eds.), Handbook of market research (pp. 1–40). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05542-8_15-1
Schaufeli, W. B., Salanova, M., González-Romá, V., & Bakker, A. B. (2002). The measurement of engagement and burnout: A two sample confirmatory factor analytic approach. Journal of Happiness Studies, 3(1), 71–92. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015630930326
Spector, P. E. (1985). Measurement of human service staff satisfaction: Development of the Job Satisfaction Survey. American Journal of Community Psychology, 13(6), 693–713. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00929796
The Open Psychology Journal. (2021). Modeling the effect of organizational justice on employee engagement. The Open Psychology Journal, 14(1), 238–247. https://doi.org/10.2174/1874350102114010238
Ullah, F., Shah, S. H. A., Jan, S., & Khan, S. (2022). The influence of organisational justice on work engagement, organisational commitment, and job satisfaction: A comprehensive study. International Journal of Business Management, 3(1), 45–60. https://doi.org/10.xxxx/ijbm
Vishnu, V., Nixon Raj, M. A., & Roger, R. (2025). Anchoring talent: Key drivers of employee retention in manufacturing. In Proceedings of the Twenty Second AIMS International Conference on Management (pp. 2246–2253).
Published
2025-12-19
How to Cite
Arditta, T. W., Ahman, E., & Adman, A. (2025). Organizational Justice, Work Culture, And Employee Engagement: The Mediating Role Of Job Satisfaction. Kontigensi : Jurnal Ilmiah Manajemen, 13(2), 849-963. https://doi.org/10.56457/jimk.v13i2.840
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Articles
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