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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mechanisms and the conditions under which experiencing organizational justice fosters employees' readiness for change. First, this study tests the mediating role of perceived organizational support between overall justice and readiness for change. Second, it examines whether perceived organizational competence moderates this indirect positive effect.

Data were collected from US employees (N = 230) facing organizational change. Confirmatory factor analyses were performed to test the measurement model. Moderated mediation analyses, based on Hayes' (2013) method, were used to examine the hypotheses.

Overall, the findings support the hypotheses. Justice influences readiness for change through perceived organizational support only for employees who perceive their organization as highly competent.

While a few studies have shown that justice fosters readiness for change, little attention has been paid to the mechanisms and conditions under which justice affects readiness for change. In addition, this research highlights in particular the importance of considering how employees assess the “can do” characteristic of their company in the context of organizational change.

Although justice perceptions have been proven to be a critical determinant of readiness for change (RFC), research is still needed to investigate which source(s) of justice fosters employee's preparedness to face change within his/her organization. The aim of this study is to examine the simultaneous influence of three sources of justice, namely the organization, the supervisor and the coworkers, on RFC through perceived organizational support, perceived supervisor support and perceived coworker support, respectively.

Three different sets of data were collected from employees in the United States and in Europe. Path analyses were performed to test the hypotheses.

The results indicated that perceived organizational support mediates the relationship between organizational justice and RFC. Conversely, however, the effect of supervisory justice and coworkers justice on RFC was not mediated by perceived supervisor support and perceived coworker support.

This study is the first to examine the simultaneous influence of organizational, supervisory and coworkers justice on RFC. In doing so, it highlights the need to consider justice stemming from the organization as a priority when considering implementing an organizational change, as opposed to justice emanating from the supervisor and coworkers. In addition, this study responds to long-standing calls for the simultaneous examination of multiple sources of justice and the exploration of the largely neglected role of justice stemming from coworkers.