Illegitimate Tasks and Nurses’ Workplace Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Emotional Exhaustion and the Moderating Role of Victim Justice Sensitivity

Background/Objectives: In healthcare settings, nurses frequently face illegitimate tasks that may threaten their professional identity and weaken their workplace well-being. Prior research drawing on conservation of resources (COR) theory has largely explained illegitimate tasks in terms of resource loss, whereas less attention has been given to these tasks from a justice theory perspective. To address this gap, the objective of this study was to examine how illegitimate tasks are associated with nurses’ workplace well-being by integrating COR theory and justice theory. Specifically, emotional exhaustion was examined as a mediator, and victim justice sensitivity as a moderator. Methods: Data were collected from nurses across multiple hospitals in China using a time-lagged design. After matching responses across the two waves, 497 valid cases were retained for the final analysis. The hypothesized moderated mediation model was tested using Hayes PROCESS Model 7, with 5000 bootstrap samples. Results: Illegitimate tasks were negatively associated with workplace well-being (B = −0.359, p < 0.001). Emotional exhaustion partially mediated this association (indirect effect = −0.186, 95% CI [−0.239, −0.137]). Victim justice sensitivity significantly moderated the association between illegitimate tasks and emotional exhaustion (B = 0.214, p < 0.001). Furthermore, the moderated mediation index was significant (index = −0.090, 95% CI [−0.121, −0.060]), indicating that the indirect association became stronger at higher levels of victim justice sensitivity. Conclusions: The findings indicate that illegitimate tasks are associated with lower workplace well-being among nurses, with this association partially explained by emotional exhaustion, particularly among nurses with high victim justice sensitivity. By integrating COR theory and justice theory, the findings highlight the dual burden of resource depletion and unfairness perceptions. Healthcare organizations should minimize illegitimate tasks to protect nurses’ workplace well-being.