The organizational justice literature has consistently documented substantial correlations between organizational justice and employee depression. Existing theoretical literature suggests this relationship occurs because perceptions of organizational (in)justice lead to subsequent psychological health problems. Building on recent research on the affective nature of justice perceptions, in the present research we broaden this perspective by arguing there are also theoretical arguments for a reverse effect whereby psychological health problems influence perceptions of organizational justice. To contrast both theoretical perspectives, we test longitudinal lagged effects between organizational justice perceptions (i.e., distributive justice, interactional justice, interpersonal justice, informational justice, and procedural justice) and employee depressive symptoms using structural equation modeling. Analyses of 3 samples from different military contexts (N₁ = 625, N₂ = 134, N₃ = 550) revealed evidence of depressive symptoms leading to subsequent organizational justice perceptions. In contrast, the opposite effects of organizational justice perceptions on depressive symptoms were not significant for any of the justice dimensions. The findings have broad implications for theoretical perspectives on psychological health and organizational justice perceptions.

The aims of the present study were twofold: First, in differentiating between specific job characteristics, the authors examined the moderating influence of role clarity on the relationship between job demands and psychological and physical strain. Second, in providing a more comprehensive link between job demands and job performance, the authors examined strain as a mediator of that relationship. Participants were 1,418 Army cadets attending a 35-day assessment center. Survey data were collected on Day 26 of the assessment center and performance ratings were assessed throughout the assessment center period by expert evaluators. Role clarity was found to moderate the job demands-strain relationship. Specifically, cadets experiencing high demands reported less physical and psychological strain when they reported high role clarity. Moreover, psychological strain significantly mediated the demands-performance relationship. Implications are discussed from theoretical and applied perspectives.