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AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The present study was aimed at describing the status of job burnout and exploring the mediating roles of psychological capital and professional identity on the association between organisational justice and job burnout. BACKGROUND With the shortage of nurses all over the world, nurses' job burnout has become the focus of studies in recent years. However, limited published research has examined the mediating roles of psychological capital and professional identity on the association between organisational justice and job burnout within hospital contexts in China. DESIGN A cross-sectional design. METHODS A total of 1,009 nurses were enrolled from a major general hospital located in Qiqihar City in the northeast of China from March-July 2018, and asked to complete questionnaires regarding organisational justice, psychological capital, professional identity and job burnout. The STROBE checklist was adhered to in this study. RESULTS It was observed that the overall proportion of nurses with job burnout was 58.8%. All the correlations among organisational justice, psychological capital, professional identity and job burnout were statistically significant, with coefficients ranging between -0.487-0.863. Psychological capital and professional identity had indirect effects equal to -0.072 and -0.142, respectively, on the association between organisational justice and job burnout, taking up 13.7% and 26.9% of the total effect, respectively. The serial indirect effect of psychological capital and professional identity was -0.129, accounting for 24.5% of the total effect. CONCLUSIONS This study showed the necessity of addressing the status of job burnout among Chinese nurses. Psychological capital and professional identity may mediate the linkage between organisational justice and job burnout independently and accumulatively. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE Nursing managers should strengthen organisational justice and improve the psychological capital and professional identity of nurses through effective strategies to prevent the job burnout of nurses.