Cimahi, Indonesia — A study by Alifia Halwa Ghazwani, Dedi Muhammad Siddiq, and Dede Nurdin from the Department of Management, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Swadaya Gunung Jati, Indonesia, has found that distributive justice and job satisfaction play important roles in strengthening employee work engagement at Sentra Abiyoso, a government social service institution in Cimahi.
Published in the Indonesian Journal of Business Analytics (IJBA), Vol. 6 No. 4, August 2026, the study highlights the importance of creating a fair and satisfying work environment, particularly in public social service organizations where employees interact closely with people with disabilities.
Fairness and Satisfaction Matter for Employee Engagement
Work engagement refers to the level of energy, dedication, and involvement employees bring to their work. In social services, strong engagement is particularly important because the quality of services can depend on employees' empathy, consistency, commitment, and willingness to provide continuous support.
The researchers examined three key factors: distributive justice, job demands, and job satisfaction, and investigated how these factors were connected to employees' work engagement.
Distributive justice concerns employees' perceptions of whether pay, rewards, workloads, career opportunities, and other organizational benefits are distributed fairly in relation to their contributions. Meanwhile, job demands refer to the physical, psychological, social, and organizational aspects of work that require sustained effort.
The study also positioned job satisfaction as an important psychological link between working conditions and employee engagement.
Quantitative Survey of Sentra Abiyoso Employees
The research used a quantitative associative approach with a cross-sectional survey. Data were collected through structured questionnaires using a five-point Likert scale and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM).
The article's abstract reports 121 valid responses from employees at Sentra Abiyoso.
The descriptive results showed that all variables remained within the moderate category:
- Work engagement: mean score of 3.058
- Job demands: mean score of 2.999
- Distributive justice: mean score of 2.880
- Job satisfaction: mean score of 2.858
The statistical model showed that distributive justice and job demands explained 45.7% of the variation in job satisfaction, while distributive justice, job demands, and job satisfaction collectively explained 61.4% of the variation in work engagement.
Distributive Justice Has a Strong Direct Effect
The findings showed a significant positive relationship between distributive justice and job satisfaction. The path coefficient was 0.471, with a t-value of 6.964 and p < 0.001.
Distributive justice also had a significant positive direct effect on work engagement, with a coefficient of 0.449, a t-value of 6.996, and p < 0.001.
These findings indicate that employees who perceive their workplace as fair in terms of workload, rewards, opportunities, and other benefits tend to report higher job satisfaction and stronger engagement with their work.
Job Demands Work Through Job Satisfaction
Job demands also had a significant positive effect on job satisfaction, with a coefficient of 0.384, a t-value of 5.616, and p < 0.001.
However, job demands did not have a significant direct effect on work engagement. The coefficient was only 0.089, with a t-value of 1.513 and p = 0.130.
Instead, the relationship became significant through job satisfaction. The indirect effect of job demands on work engagement through job satisfaction was 0.150, with a t-value of 3.775 and p < 0.001.
The researchers therefore found that job satisfaction fully mediates the relationship between job demands and work engagement.
For distributive justice, job satisfaction provided partial mediation, with an indirect effect of 0.184, a t-value of 4.324, and p < 0.001.
Implications for Public Social Service Organizations
The findings suggest that improving employee engagement cannot rely solely on increasing workloads or assigning challenging responsibilities. Organizations also need to ensure that employees feel satisfied with their working conditions.
Several practical steps can be considered:
- Establish transparent criteria for career development and professional opportunities.
- Ensure workloads are distributed fairly among employees.
- Develop clear and equitable incentive systems.
- Manage job demands so that they remain meaningful and achievable rather than becoming excessive burdens.
- Conduct regular evaluations of employee job satisfaction.
- Build a fair, supportive, and satisfying workplace environment.
For social service institutions such as Sentra Abiyoso, these measures may contribute to a more engaged workforce and support consistent service delivery to beneficiaries.
Study Limitations
The researchers acknowledged several limitations. Because the study used a cross-sectional design, the findings cannot fully establish causal relationships over time. The research was also conducted at a single institution, which may limit the generalizability of the findings to other organizations.
Future research could use longitudinal designs, involve larger samples across multiple institutions, and examine additional factors such as job resources, supervisory support, organizational commitment, and psychological well-being.
About the Researchers
- Alifia Halwa Ghazwani- Universitas Swadaya Gunung Jati, Indonesia.
- Dedi Muhammad Siddiq-Universitas Swadaya Gunung Jati, Indonesia.
- Dede Nurdin- Universitas Swadaya Gunung Jati, Indonesia.
Research Source
Article Title: Integrating Distributive Justice and Job Demands in Predicting Work Engagement: The Mediating Role of Job Satisfaction
Authors: Alifia Halwa Ghazwani, Dedi Muhammad Siddiq, Dede Nurdin
Journal: Indonesian Journal of Business Analytics (IJBA)
Volume/Issue: Vol. 6, No. 4, August 2026
Pages: 1127–1142
DOI: https://doi.org/10.55927/ijba.v6i4.16789
Journal: Formosa Publisher
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