Organizational injustice and thriving at work: mediating effect of organizational cynicism and moderating effect of psychological safety

Purpose Drawing upon the social exchange theory (SET), this study aims to explore the relationship between organizational injustice and employees’ thriving at work by examining organizational cynicism as a mediator and psychological safety as a moderator. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 310 employees working in Vietnamese service enterprises using a purposive sampling technique. Partial least squares structural equation modeling in SmartPLS 4.0 was used to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings The results showed a negative relationship between organizational injustice and employees' thriving at work. Notably, this negative relationship was partially mediated by organizational cynicism. Moreover, psychological safety moderated the negative relationship between organizational injustice and thriving at work, such that the effect is weaker when psychological safety is higher. Research limitations/implications The study employed a cross-sectional research approach to examine employees' perceptions at a certain time. Therefore, it is advised that future research employ longitudinal surveys to capture perceptions at the appropriate moment. Practical implications This study contributes practical implications by minimizing the unfair behaviors and cynical attitudes in the organization. The finding also indicates that fostering psychological safety could mitigate the negative effects of unfair behaviors in the workplace and promote employee vitality and learning. Originality/value This study is one of a few empirical studies examining how and when organizational injustice negatively impacts employees’ thriving at work in a collectivistic, Confucian Asian culture. It sheds light on how organizational injustice can hinder employees' ability to thrive through organizational cynicism, which disrupts reciprocal exchanges of benefits and resources, leading to adverse outcomes such as impaired thriving at work. Furthermore, it shows that the negative influence of organizational injustice on employees’ thriving at work varies across different levels of psychological safety.