We proposed that the social exchange relationships individuals form in the workplace would mediate the relation between perceptions of interactional and distributive justice and social loafing. Specifically, we argued that both leader-member exchanges (LMX) and team-member exchanges (TMX) would mediate the relation between interactional justice and social loafing, and that LMX would mediate the relation between distributive justice and social loafing. In a field study, 124 manufacturing employees responded to questionnaires and their immediate supervisors were interviewed. The results indicated significant relationships between interactional justice and LMX, and between interactional justice and TMX. LMX, but not TMX, was negatively related to social loafing. Distributive justice was not significantly related to LMX. Thus no support was found for LMX as a mediator of the relationship between distributive justice and social loafing.
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