Background Human resource management and employees’ performance are fundamental to the success of healthcare organisations. Therefore, it is important to consider the factors that may affect employees’ performance.

Aim To determine the relationship between perceived organisational justice, positive organisational behaviour (POB) and the productivity of emergency nurses.

Method This was a descriptive-analytical study that involved distributing questionnaires to emergency nurses working in hospitals affiliated with Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences in Iran. The researchers used proportionate stratified sampling to calculate the sample size. Three questionnaires were used to collect data on organisational justice, POB and productivity. The data were analysed using the Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple regression tests.

Results The questionnaires were distributed to 284 emergency nurses and completed by 234 of them. The results demonstrated a significant relationship between the productivity of the emergency nurses and the variables of perceived organisational justice and POB.

Conclusion Higher levels of perceived organisational justice and POB in the ED setting are likely to lead to increased productivity among emergency nurses, and as a result the quality of patient care is likely to improve. Therefore, healthcare organisations should pay particular attention to the application of organisational justice, with the aim of promoting POB among nurses and increasing their productivity.