Organizational justice: personality traits or emotional intelligence? An empirical study in an Italian hospital context

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of personality traits and emotional intelligence in relation to organizational justice. The Organizational Justice Scale, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised Short Form, and the Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory were administered to 384 Italian nurses. The emotional intelligence dimensions explained a greater percentage of the incremental variance in relation to the four organizational justice dimensions (distributive: ΔR2=.11; procedural: ΔR2=.12; interpersonal: ΔR2=.19; informational: ΔR2=.16) with respect to personality traits (distributive: R2=.06; procedural: R2=.08; interpersonal: R2=.12; informational: R2=.09). The results highlight the role of emotional intelligence in explaining organizational justice, thereby offering new research and intervention perspectives.