Investigating the Effect of Job Satisfaction on Counterproductive Behaviors with the Mediating Role of Organizational Justice (Case Study: Ilam Petrochemical Company)

Counterproductive behaviors, as one of the fundamental challenges of organizations, impose significant costs on productivity and workplace health. This research was conducted with the aim of investigating the effect of job satisfaction on counterproductive behaviors, considering the mediating role of organizational justice, at Ilam Petrochemical Company. This research is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-correlational in terms of nature. The statistical population included 2000 employees of Ilam Petrochemical Company in 2024. The sample size was estimated to be 340 people based on the Morgan table, who were selected by simple random sampling. Data were collected using three standard questionnaires: Job Satisfaction, Counterproductive Behaviors, and Organizational Justice. The reliability of the questionnaires was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha as 0.94, 0.89, and 0.81, respectively, and the total reliability was 0.79. For data analysis, Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests, Pearson correlation coefficient, Sobel test, and structural equation modeling were used with SPSS and Lisrel software.The results showed that job satisfaction has a positive and significant effect on reducing counterproductive behaviors both directly (standard coefficient = 0.545, t-value = 5.027) and indirectly through the mediating role of organizational justice (standard coefficient = 0.771, t-value = 8.52). Furthermore,all sub-hypotheses related to the effect of the three dimensions of organizational justice (distributive, procedural, and interactional) on reducing counterproductive behaviors and their mediating role in the relationship between job satisfaction and counterproductive behaviors were confirmed.Increasing job satisfaction through the promotion of organizational justice (especially distributive and procedural dimensions) leads to a significant reduction in counterproductive behaviors among employees.