Purpose: Procedural justice consists of employees' fairness judgments about decision-making processes used to allocate organizational rewards and has been linked to positive work outcomes. The study drew from social exchange and reciprocity theories to examine a model proposing psychological empowerment and organization-based self-esteem (OBSE) as two psychological processes explaining the relationship of procedural justice with employees' work effort and thriving. Design/methodology/approach: Three-waves of data with one-month time lags were obtained from 346 full-time US employees. Structural equation modeling tested the hypotheses. Findings: Results supported the model. Procedural justice at Time 1 was positively related to psychological empowerment and OBSE at Time 2, which both led to employees' work effort and thriving at Time 3. Originality/value: The study provided a theoretical explanation for procedural justice resulting in better work effort and thriving: Psychological empowerment and OBSE may provide a bridge for the effects of procedural justice on employees’ work effort and thriving.