Empowering leadership and organizational justice perceptions in the new normal: The roles of media richness and digital literacy

Abstract Virtual and hybrid work have become the new normal for many organizations, reshaping employees' perceptions of organizational justice. Drawing on the empowering process and media richness theory, this research examines the relationship between empowering leadership and employees' perceptions of organizational justice in virtual and hybrid work arrangements, as well as the moderating roles of media richness and digital literacy. In Study 1, a multiwave longitudinal survey conducted in virtual and hybrid work arrangements reveals that media richness curvilinearly moderates the positive relationship between empowering leadership and perceptions of organizational justice, with stronger effects when digital literacy is higher. However, as real‐world communication often involves a dynamic mix of media, Study 1 could not isolate the effects of specific media types. To address this limitation, Study 2 employed a scenario‐based experimental design with two independent samples to systematically compare five commonly used communication media—face‐to‐face, videoconference, telephone, messaging, and email. The results show that empowering leadership enhances perceptions of organizational justice, with the strongest effect occurring in videoconference settings. These findings advance the nuanced understanding of how communication media shape the justice‐enhancing effects of empowering leadership in virtual and hybrid work arrangements.