AUTHOR=Bala Subramanian R. , Srikanth P. B. , Thakur Munish 

TITLE=Influence of distributive justice on organizational citizenship behaviors: The mediating role of gratitude

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 13 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.974405

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2022.974405

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=Distributive justice is known to have important emotional and affective outcomes. The 
present study explores the role of distributive justice as an antecedent to feelings of gratitude 
towards the organization. Borrowing from social exchange theory we investigate the mediating 
role of gratitude in the relationship between perceived fairness in distributive justice and 
employees' organization citizenship behaviors. Multi-source data was collected from 185 
employees and their supervisors employed in a large manufacturing organization based in East 
India. Data collection spanned two-time intervals. Data were analyzed using structured equation 
modeling. The results indicate that feelings of gratitude not only signal fair distribution of benefits 
such that the employees go beyond the call of the duty to invest in OCB by engaging in such 
acts, they presumably repay their social debts highlighted in the social exchange perspective. 
Implications for theory and practice are discussed.