To leave or not to leave: the effects of perceptions of organizational justice on employee turnover intention via employee-organization relationship and employee job engagement

Abstract

This study examined the effects of perceptions of organizational justice on the quality of relationships between employees and organizations, employee job engagement, and subsequent effects on employee turnover intention. Drawing from two complementary approaches (relationship management and human resources management perspectives), the current study proposed a model of employee turnover intention as the ultimate negative outcome of the relationship quality that employees perceive to have developed with their organization, which is predicted by perceptions of organizational justice. Additionally, the current study incorporated employee job engagement as the mediator connecting the EOR with the turnover intention. The results of an in-person survey of 438 salespeople for a South Korean company revealed that organizational justice perceptions had a significant and direct influence on the EOR quality. The findings further revealed that high perceptions of organizational justice by employees affected job engagement, which in turn negatively influenced turnover intention. Employee job engagement was also found to mediate the direct effects of justice perceptions and EOR on turnover intention.