The Effect of Transformational Leadership and Organizational Justice on Job Satisfaction: The Mediating Role of Emotional Labor

This study investigates how transformational leadership and organizational justice influence employee job satisfaction, with a focus on the mediating role of emotional labor.Drawing on a survey of 204 employees from Chinese enterprises, the research examines the effects of six key predictorscharisma, individualized consideration, intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation, distributive justice, and procedural justice-on job satisfaction.The findings confirm that all six variables have significant positive effects on both emotional labor and job satisfaction.Furthermore, emotional labor was shown to partially mediate the relationship between both transformational leadership and organizational justice with job satisfaction.These results offer new theoretical insights into the emotional mechanisms underlying leadership effectiveness and organizational fairness, while also providing practical implications for enhancing employee well-being and organizational performance in the Chinese context.