His research examines the role of motivation-, justice-, and leadership-based processes that underlie employee attitudes and behavior. His research has been published in Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Journal of Applied Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Personnel Psychology, Psychological Bulletin, and Research in Organizational Behavior, among other journals, and it has been cited in outlets such as Forbes, The Globe and Mail, Huffington Post, Psychology Today, TIME, U.S. News & World Report, and Wall Street Journal. In 2013, Dr. Johnson received the Distinguished Early Career Contributions Award for Science from the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.