The mediating effects of trust, communication, satisfaction, and withdrawal behavior on the relationship between justice and outcome acceptability

This study examined the relationship between the four forms of justice---distributive, procedural, interpersonal, and informational---and how the resulting feelings of trust, satisfaction, communication, and withdrawal behaviors affect the likelihood of outcome acceptability in organizations. Existing justice theories suggest that feelings of justice are vital to long-term organizational success. This study took the unique approach of combining prior studies on the different forms of justice and the related mediating factors to further investigate the relationship between justice and outcome acceptability. Utilizing Colquitt's (2001) justice model, and measurement items from numerous other relevant studies, this study gathered data from 214 participants in various industries regarding their feelings of being treated justly and how those feelings influenced associated behaviors and outcomes. Two study models were developed and analyzed utilizing both structural equation modeling (SEM) and partial least squares (PLS) methodologies. The results were the same, regardless of which analysis method was used. This similarity of results indicated the soundness of the theoretical principle that justice and its mediators do have an impact on outcome acceptance in organizations. The results of the two analysis procedures were discussed, contributing to the overall volume of knowledge on the impact of the mediators on feelings of justice, how organizations can be affected by this impact, and how organizations can influence the outcomes.