Complex Relationships Between Justice and Injustice in Organizations: Reducing Work-Related Burnout Among Child Welfare Workers

This study examined complex relationships among abusive supervision, procedural justice, and distributive justice in affecting work-related burnout among child welfare workers. Using survey data from the Florida Study of Professionals for Safe Families (n = 679), multiple regression revealed that abusive supervision was positively associated with work-related burnout, whereas procedural justice and distributive justice were negatively associated with it. Both procedural and distributive justice significantly moderated the association between abusive supervision and work-related burnout, such that the positive effect of abusive supervision on work-related burnout was strengthened as workers’ perceptions of both types of organizational justice increased. In addition, procedural justice was more effective in reducing work-related burnout when distributive justice was high. This study points to the importance of organizational efforts to prevent discrepancies between injustice and justice and promote all types of organizational justice simultaneously to reduce work-related burnout among child welfare workers.