Psychology and Behavioral Sciences PDF

Psychology and Behavioral Sciences 2020; 9(5): 61-67
http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/pbs
doi: 10.11648/j.pbs.20200905.11
ISSN: 2328-7837 (Print); ISSN: 2328-7845 (Online)
Effect of Organizational Justice on Affective Organizational
Commitment: Mediating Role of Perceived Organizational
Support
Li Song, Li Yang *
School of Economics and Management, Anhui University of Science and Technology, Huainan, China
Email address:
*Corresponding author
To cite this article:
Li Song, Li Yang. Effect of Organizational Justice on Affective Organizational Commitment: Mediating Role of Perceived Organizational
Support. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences. Vol. 9, No. 5, 2020, pp. 61-67. doi: 10.11648/j.pbs.20200905.11
Received: August 3, 2020; Accepted: September 21, 2020; Published: September 28, 2020
Abstract: Background: Employees’ affective commitment is helpful to get high performence and build competitiv advantage
for a company. How to enhance employees' affective commitment is a hot topic in the field of management. In this study, we
explore the relationship between affective commitment, perceived organizational support and job involvement. Methods: We
surveyed 217 employees from local companies. We used analysis of Pearson correlation and regression models to explore
associations between affective commitment, perceived organizational support and job involvement. Results: We found
organiztional justice has a significant positive effect both on emplyees’ perceived organizational support and affective
commitment, especially procedural justice is the most important variant effecting employees’ perceived organizational support,
and leadership justice is the most significant variant influencing affective commitment, perceived organizational support plays a
partial mediating role between organizational justice and job involvement. Conclusions: Findings suggest that individual
perception of the organizational support plays a role in understanding when and why employees pay high attention to their work
and invest more effort to achieve organizational goals. It is critical to cultivate employees’ affective commitment to their
organization by method of creating a fair and supportive internal culture, which focus on procedural justice and consistently
supportive organizational policies.
Keywords: Organizational Justice, Perceived Organizational Support, Affective Commitment
1. Introduction
In fierce market environment, the competitive advantages
of a company obtained by capital, technology and other
resources are easy to be imitated by competitors. However,
due to the strong background and path dependence of
knowledge and ability, human resource is one of the most
important strategic factors for a company to keep competitive
advantage. The success or failure of an enterprise directly
depends on the quality and performance of its employees. In
recent years, increased attention has been given to affective
organizational commitment which is a critical factor for
employees’ work performance [1]. How to enhance
employees' affective organizational commitment is a hot
topic in the field of management [2]. Organizational justice
deals with understanding the complexity of fair treatment in a
work setting, which is reflected in the classic prescripts of
justice. Individuals’ sense of organizational justice can
significantly affect their work attitude to the organization [3].
On this basis, this study makes a survey to explore the
psychological mechanism of affective commitment from
organizational justice perspective.
2. Literature Review
2.1. Affective Organizational Commitment
Organizational commitment is the general emotional
response of employees to the organization as a whole, which
is usually expressed as an emotional dependence of
employees on the organization [4]. Employees are reluctant
to leave a enterprise not because of losing benefits such as
pension, but because of their emotional dependence on the

62 Li Song and Li Yang: Effect of Organizational Justice on Affective Organizational Commitment:
Mediating Role of Perceived Organizational Support
organization [5]. Many researchers have studied composition
of organizational commitment and put forward different
thoeries and composition list. For example, according to the
three-component model of organizational commitment
(TCM), there are three kinds of organizaional commitment:
affective organizational commitment (AOC), continuance
organizational commitment (COC) and normative
organizational commitment (NOC) [6]. AOC is described as
the degree of employees’ identification with the organization,
which is based on a sense of shared values with, and features
a strong emotional attachment to, the organization and as
such is the commitment component that most strongly fosters
the desire to contribute to the organization's success. COC is
the requirement of employees to work continuously for the
organization, which is a cumulative dimension. NOC refers
to the employees' sense of responsibility to the organization,
including the accumulated sense of responsibility on
individuals and the constraints of social norms. In short,
people stay in an organization because they are willing
(affective), need (continuous), or feel they should be
(normalized). The TCM model has been cited extensively
and has become the mainstream in organizational
commitment research [7]. According to the five-component
model of organizational commitment, organizational
commitment is divided into five categaries: affective
organizational commitment (AOC), normative organizational
commitment (NOC), ideal organizational commitment (IOC),
opportunity organizational commitment (OOC) and
economic organizational commitment (EOC). AOC is the
deep feelings with the enterprises. IOC means that employees
attach importance to personal growth and pursue the
realization of their ideals. Therefore, employees are very
concerned about whether their own expertise can provide
various working conditions, learning and promotion
opportunities, so as to realize their ideals. NOC describes
employees’ attitude and behavior towards the enterprise
which based on social norms and professional ethics, that is
to say, employees have a sense of responsibility for the
organization. EOC refers to the fact that employees stay in
the company because they will suffer economic losses if they
leave. OOC means that employees stay in the enterprise just
because they have no opportunity to find another job. Many
stuies have proved that organizational commitment is quite
stable and consistent [8]. Especially, Employees with a sense
of affective commitment will increase their loyalty to the
enterprise and are more likely to engage in extra role
activities such as creation and innovation. The affective
commitment of employees to the organization is influenced
by individual needs and their expectations of the organization,
as well as the actual satisfaction they feel. Organizational
reliability is an important factor affecting employees'
emotional commitment [9].
2.2. Organizational Justice
Organizational justice is concerned with perceptions of
fairness in the workplace [10]. In the process of social
exchange, the employee compares the reward paid to the rate
of contribution to others, and the individual will be fair when
the individual is equal to the contribution made by others.
Employees are more likely to demonstrate positive work
attitudes and behaviors when they perceive the organization
and authority figures as fair. Conversely, when employees
feel they have not been treated fairly in work-related matters,
they are more likely to respond with anger, resentment and
retaliatory behaviors [11]. At early stage, organizational
justice is one-dimensional, only refers to the degree to which
rewards and punishments are related to performance inputs,
that is distributive justice. Later procedural justice was found
to be included, which is based on judgments of fairness
regarding the policies and procedures used in the decision
making process of organizations [12]. Bies & Moag (1986)
[13] suggests that organizational justice consists of
distributive justice, procedure justice and interactive justice;
there into, interactive justice is primarily concerned with the
extent to which employees perceive their respect. Greenberg
(1993) [14] divided interactive justice into interpersonal
justice and information justice. Interpersonal justice refers to
quality of interpersonal treatment received during the
enactment of organizational procedures. Informational justice
is based on the degree of explanation provided to employees
regarding distribution of outcomes and the procedures used
to make these determinations. Colquitt (2013) [15] divided
organizational justice into four dimensions including
distributive justice, procedural justice, interpersonal justice
and informational justice. Thereinto, distributive justice is the
sense of fairness that employees perceive to pay or other
decisions; procedural justice focus on fairness of the
communication and the implementation process, while
interpersonal justice emphasis the extent that employees feel
that they are respected and concerned. Chong-ming Wang
(2001) [16] divided organizational justice into four
dimensions including distributive justice, procedural justice,
leadership equity and informational justice based on mass
social survey in China, there into, distributive justice refers to
perception of the staff on resource allocation fairness of the
organization, especially compensation distribution.
Procedural justice refers to perception of execution process
fairness; leadership justice refers to perception concern and
respect of supervisors on the staff. Information justice refers
to the perception that supervisors give full explanation to the
staff in the organization's affairs.
2.3. Perceived Organizational Support
Perceived organizational support (POS) is defined as
global beliefs developed by employees’ concerning the extent
to which the organization values their contributions and cares
about their well-being [17]. By empirical study on Chinese
employees, Wen-quan Lin (2006) [18] found that perceived
organizational support consists of three dimensions,
including job support, value recognition and interest. POS is
influenced by a variety of factors, such as organizational
rewards in the form of praise, money, promotions and
influence, all given by the organization to employees as a
way of communicating to employees that they are valued.

Psychology and Behavioral Sciences 2020; 9(5): 61-67 63
POS has been associated with increases in affective
commitment, positive mood, job satisfaction, loyalty,
performance, and organizational citizenship behavior [19].
POS has also been associated with decreased turnover
intentions and decreased job strain [20].
2.4. Overview and Hypotheses
According to the social exchange theory, exchanges recur
over time, people always pursue the maximum benefit and
seek the most powerful exchange object and activity. The
relationship between organization and employees is also one
kind of exchange relationship, which embodies the basic
principles of social exchange theory. Social exchange theory
not only looks at interpersonal interaction from the
perspective of "cost-benefit", but also involves invisible
social cost and benefit exchange, such as respect, honor,
friendship and care, which do not follow external rules and
agreements. Therefore, social exchange has no clear
guarantee on whether the input cost can get reciprocal returns.
The only guarantee is the assumption of the exchange
partner's cooperation intention, that is, the belief in the
reciprocal cooperation of exchange partners, which is the
core of social exchange theory [21]. Employees'
responsibility and commitment to the enterprise is based on
reciprocity. In the process of exchange, if the employee does
not have this belief (that is, trust), his or her dependence on
the enterprise will be reduced, and it is impossible to have
affective commitment to the enterprise, and exptress positive
work behavior and create high performance. It can be seen
that employees' trust in the enterprise or management is very
important to affective commitment.
In the relationship between employees and enterprises,
both employees and enterprises have their power and
expectation. Exchanges between organizations and
employees should be mutually beneficial. Enterprises hope
that employees work hard and get high performance. While
employees not only expect to get remuneration, but also hope
to get respect, friendship and pleasure from the enterprise in
the process of labor. This is actually an unwritten
psychological contract between employees and enterprises.
Generally speaking, reliability is the starting point of
building trust. Only when employees believe that the
enterprise is willing and able to fulfill its commitment, can
employees have confidence to trade with the enterprise,
generate organizational commitment, and treat their work
with more positive attitude. Therefore, in the daily
management activities, managers should pass on the relevant
information of capabilities through various communication
channels, so as to enhance employees' rational cognition of
enterprise capabilities. Organizational justice is actually a
signal of trust to employees [22]. If an enterprise fulfills its
promise as expected, treats its employees fairly, and meets
their needs, then the employees will be motivated to form
trust in the enterprise and be willing to establish affective
interaction with the enterprise, employees will have affective
commitment to the enterprise, regard the enterprise as their
home, and spontaneously generate positive behaviors to
improve their work performance. Thus, justice, POS and
commitment are theoretically intertwined via social
exchanges.
According to the organizational support theory, the
establishment of employment relationship is the exchange of
material benefits and social rewards by employees' hard work
and loyalty. The organization's concern and attention to
employees is an important reason for employees to stay in the
organization and contribute to the organization. In order to
meet socioemotional needs and to assess the benefits of
increased work effort, employees form a general perception
concerning the extent to which the organization values their
contributions and cares about their well-being. Higher
organizational support will make employees have strong
affective commitment and a strong sense of obligation to the
organization. Employees who feel lower organizational
support are more likely to leave the organization.
Organizational support meets the social emotional needs of
employees. If employees feel that the organization is willing
and able to repay their work, employees will make more
efforts for the interests of the organization. If employees are
given suitable respect and important value resources, they
will have a sense of obligation and help the organization
achieve its goals by increasing work performance according
to the principle of reciprocity. On the contrary, if the
organization ignores the needs of employees and lacks the
support and care for employees, it will destroy the
psychological contract of employees and generate low trust.
We can see that perceived organizational support can
transform employees' positive perception of organizational
activities into obligation or emotional commitment, then
affects employees’ psychology and behavior. Along with
improvement of perceived organizations support, employees
would increase obligation to help the organization reach its
objectives, and tend to develop positive perception and
beliefs of organization and reward with higher affective
commitment. Strong sense of organization support would be
more likely to increase the satisfaction of psychological
needs, make employees feel more highly related to the
organization and its members. Perceived organizational
support (POS) is usually used to signify the organization’s
care for its employees’welfare. Moreover, reciprocity obliges
employees to return such attention, which can make
employees invlove more attention on their job. Employees
with high POS should avoid a high level of voluntary
withdrawal behaviors, and instead engage in nonwork-related
conversations. Consistent with the prior literature and results,
this work predicts that POS is positively associated with
affective commitment.
Organizational justice was found to be significantly and
positively related to perceived organizational support.
Affective commitment can be perceived as a reflection of
work experiences. Individuals may become involved in their
jobs in response to specific attributes of the work situation.
As employees develop a better understanding and acceptance
of organizational goals and values, conveyed through the
organizational climate, they are likely to become more