Organizational justice and employee performance in Makerere University, the mediating role of job satisfaction

Abstract

This research aimed at examining mediating role of job satisfaction in the relationship between organizational justice on perceived employee performance in public universities in Uganda; The study was premised on four objectives; to examine the effect of organizational justice on perceived employee performance, to establish the effect of job satisfaction on perceived employee performance, and to assess the mediating role of job satisfaction in the relationship between organizational justice and perceived employee performance at Makerere University and to assess how age, job experience, job satisfaction, distributive justice and interactive justice affect employee performance at Makerere University. The study employed a cross sectional survey research design and using a mixed method approach involving qualitative and quantitative data collected from 280 respondents out of a sample of 324 employees using a survey questionnaire. The study revealed that facets of Organizational Justice particularly; Interactive Justice and Job Satisfaction played a critical role in influencing the changes in employee performance. It further showed that there was no direct effect of distributive justice on employee performance. The study also revealed that there is a mediating effect of job satisfaction on the relationship between organizational justice facets (distributive justice, procedural justice and interactive justice) and employee performance. The study therefore recommended that the administration should develop and implement policies that will yield results in terms of improved role clarity, effective teamwork, and a better employer-employee relationship. Furthermore, the study recommended that Makerere University Administration must improve its relations with staff associations such as MUASA, and that the university administration should focus on further training, competence development and/or retraining of its current managerial workforce.