The impacts of organizational justice on collegiate coaches’ attitudinal outcomes: Mediating effect of trust

The main purpose of this study was to examine the mediating effects of trust in the relationships between organizational justice (i.e., distributive justice, procedural justice, and interactional justice) and attitudinal outcomes (i.e., career commitment and job satisfaction) among Chinese collegiate coaches. A total of 208 Chinese collegiate coaches across 8 sports were recruited in 73 universities. Data were analyzed using partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The results demonstrated that trust in supervisor partially mediated the relationship between interactional justice and job satisfaction ( β = 0.188, p < .05). Moreover, trust in organization fully mediated the relationship between interactional justice and career commitment ( β = 0.211, p < .05). This study demonstrates the importance of interactional justice in improving collegiate coaches’ job satisfaction and career commitment as well as the mediating role of trust in supervisor in the relationship between interactional justice and job satisfaction and the mediating role of trust in organization in the relationship between interactional justice and career commitment. The findings offer suggestions to college athletics departments that may improve collegiate coaches’ work attitudes by fostering a just and trustworthy work environment.