Linking Organizational Justice and Psychological Conditions to Chinese Judges’ Turnover Intention

Abstract

In recent years, more and more Chinese judges have resigned from courts, making the judicial profession less attractive. Many reasons shape judges’ turnover intention, with organizational justice being one of the potentially important yet overlooked contributing factors. Based on survey data collected from 458 judges in a northern Chinese province, this study tests a theoretical framework linking supervisor, peer, and litigant justice directly to judges’ intention to resign and indirectly through occupational stress and satisfaction. Structural equation modeling (SEM) results indicate that supervisor and litigant justice are directly related to lower turnover intention, but peer justice is connected to higher turnover intention among Chinese judges. The association between supervisor justice and judges’ turnover intention is also mediated by occupational stress and job satisfaction, while the relationships between peer and litigant justice and judges’ turnover intention are mainly mediated by job satisfaction. In addition, seasoned and female judges have lower turnover intention.