Impact of basic psychological needs on organizational justice and helping behavior: a self-determination perspective

Purpose

Integrating the social exchange perspective of helping behavior with self-determination theory (SDT), this study seeks to examine the impact of employees' psychological needs on perceived organizational justice and the impact of perceived organizational justice on employees' helping behavior.

Design/methodology/approach

Cross-sectional and cross-organizational data were obtained from 177 full-time employees employed in 12 small- and medium-sized oil and gas service companies. A partial least squares approach using SmartPLS was employed to test the hypotheses.

Findings

Results illustrate that the psychological need for competence and need for autonomy are positively related to perceived distributive and procedural justice, respectively. Moreover, perceived distributive and procedural justice are related to helping behavior. Furthermore, perceived distributive justice fully mediates the relationship between the psychological need for competence and helping behavior, whereas perceived procedural justice partially mediates the relationship between the psychological need for autonomy and helping behavior.

Originality/value

From a theoretical standpoint, this study offers some theoretical explanations for how the basic psychological needs identified by SDT activate employees' perceived organizational justice. Practically, this study offers several managerial recommendations that help managers manage helping behavior in the organization effectively.

Empathetic Leadership: How Leader Emotional Support and Understanding Influences Follower Performance

This article presents a theory of empathetic leadership and its initial test. Empathetic leadership provides a model of how leader understanding and support improves follower behaviors and affective states. For this article, we explored the link between empathetic leadership and follower performance. Specifically, we tested the causal processes by which empathetic language influences follower performance. These processes include follower job satisfaction and innovation. Findings support model hypotheses and provide preliminary causal support for the model.