Justice, Commitment, and Self-Leadership: Pathways to Employee Innovation in Korea

This study, grounded in the social exchange theory, examined how employees’ perceptions of organizational justice affect their innovative work behavior and explored the mediating role of organizational commitment and the moderating role of self-leadership in this relationship. We collected data through a survey of Korean workers and performed statistical analyses using SPSS 27.0 and Macro 4.1. The results showed that employees’ perceptions of organizational justice positively affected both organizational commitment and innovative work behavior. Furthermore, organizational commitment positively affected innovative work behavior and partially mediated the relationship between organizational justice and innovative work behavior. This supports the principle of reciprocity in social exchange theory, demonstrating that a fair organizational environment promotes positive attitudes and behaviors among members. Additionally, individual self-leadership strengthened the relationship between organizational justice and innovative work behavior, indicating that personal self-management capabilities are important in encouraging innovative work behavior within organizations. This study provides theoretical value by empirically identifying the complex interactions that affect innovative work behavior and presents an integrated framework for enhancing innovation capabilities in modern organizations. It also offers practical value by emphasizing the importance of respecting the psychological contract between organizations and members and maintaining sufficient exchange relationships.