Explaining How Organizational Justice Enhances Employee Engagement: The Mediating Role of Organizational Trust

Correctional institution employees carry out complex and demanding responsibilities, including institutional security, public service, inmate supervision, and rehabilitation activities. Their willingness to devote attention and effort to fulfilling these various responsibilities may be influenced by their perceptions of organizational justice and their level of trust in the institution. This study aims to analyze the relationship between organizational justice and employee work engagement by positioning organizational trust as a mediating mechanism. The study was conducted among employees of the Class I Makassar Correctional Institution. A saturated sampling or census approach was employed, involving all 60 employees as respondents. The direct and indirect relationships in the research model were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with the assistance of SmartPLS 4 software. The results indicate that organizational justice has a significant effect on organizational trust and employee work engagement. Organizational trust also has a positive relationship with employee work engagement. Furthermore, the indirect relationship between organizational justice and work engagement through organizational trust was found to be positive and significant. These findings indicate that organizational trust serves as an important mechanism linking employees’ perceptions of justice to their work engagement. Correctional institutions should implement fair organizational practices and foster employee trust in order to enhance work engagement.