Leader-member exchange and employee engagement organizational justice as mediator

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of leader-member exchange theory of leadership on employee engagement mediated by organizational justice. Data was obtained from an airline company located in Yemen. A total of 218 employees comprised the sample and filled out a questionnaire. Results indicated that higher quality of relationship exchange between supervisors and their subordinates positively and significantly contributes to the employee engagement in the workplace. Results also showed that higher perception of procedural justice, distributive justice and interactional justice positively contributes to employee engagement and, in turn, higher quality of dyadic exchange promotes the perception of organizational justice. Furthermore, results indicated that a partial mediation effect of the three organizational justice dimensions exists in the relationship between leader member exchange and employee engagement. Thus, building a strong interpersonal relationship with employees and expanding the ingroup member category by managers and supervisors will lead to higher perception of justice and higher level of employee engagement. This, in turn, will contribute to the effectiveness and success of business.