Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Associations between organizational injustice and work ability, self-reported disability days, and medical consultations: cross-sectional findings from employees with prior sickness absence payments

  • Original Article
  • Published:
International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of the study was to identify associations between organizational injustice and work ability, disability days, and consultations with general practitioners.

Methods

Cross-sectional data of persons previously receiving sickness absence benefits were used for analyses. Organizational injustice was assessed using a German version of the “organizational justice questionnaire”. Dependent variables were the Work Ability Index, self-reported disability days, and consultations with general practitioners. Associations were adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics, behavioral health risks, neuroticism, effort–reward imbalance, and overcommitment.

Results

The analysis included 2983 employed persons (54.1% women, mean age: 47.9 years). High organizational injustice was associated with poor work ability (OR = 2.04, 95% CI 1.55–2.69). There were also slight associations with frequent self-reported disability days (OR = 1.34, 95% CI 1.06–1.68). The dependent variables were also associated with the effort–reward ratio and overcommitment.

Conclusion

Organizational injustice is associated with work ability, self-reported disability days, and health-care utilization. Results support the notion of a complementary role of the models of organizational justice and effort–reward imbalance.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Arial M, Gonik V, Wild P, Danuser B (2010) Association of work related chronic stressors and psychiatric symptoms in a Swiss sample of police officers: a cross sectional questionnaire study. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 83:323–331

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bethge M, Spanier K, Neugebauer T, Mohnberg I, Radoschewski FM (2015) Self-reported poor work ability-an indicator of need for rehabilitation? A cross-sectional study of a sample of German employees. Am J Phys Med Rehabil 94:958–966

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bourbonnais R, Brisson C, Vinet A, Vezina M, Lower A (2006) Development and implementation of a participative intervention to improve the psychosocial work environment and mental health in an acute care hospital. Occup Environ Med 63:326–334

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bourbonnais R, Brisson C, Vezina M (2011) Long-term effects of an intervention on psychosocial work factors among healthcare professionals in a hospital setting. Occup Environ Med 68:479–486

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chenevert D, Jourdain G, Cole N, Banville B (2013) The role of organisational justice, burnout and commitment in the understanding of absenteeism in the Canadian healthcare sector. J Health Organ Manag 27:350–367

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dragano N, Wahrendorf M, Muller K, Lunau T (2016) Work and health inequalities: the unequal distribution of exposures at work in Germany and Europe. Bundesgesundheitsbla 59:217–227

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elovainio M, Kivimaki M, Vahtera J (2002) Organizational justice: evidence of a new psychosocial predictor of health. Am J Public Health 92:105–108

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elovainio M et al (2013) Perceived organizational justice as a predictor of long-term sickness absence due to diagnosed mental disorders: results from the prospective longitudinal Finnish Public Sector Study. Soc Sci Med 91:39–47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hayashi T, Odagiri Y, Takamiya T, Ohya Y, Inoue S (2015) Organizational justice and insomnia: relationships between justice components and insomnia symptoms among private company workers in Japan. J Occup Health 57:142–150

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Head J et al (2007) Effort-reward imbalance and relational injustice at work predict sickness absence: the Whitehall II study. J Psychosom Res 63:433–440

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hjarsbech PU et al (2014) A multi-wave study of organizational justice at work and long-term sickness absence among employees with depressive symptoms. Scand J Work Environ Health 40:176–185

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoven H, Siegrist J (2013) Work characteristics, socioeconomic position and health: a systematic review of mediation and moderation effects in prospective studies. Occup Environ Med 70:663–669

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ilmarinen J (2009) Work ability—a comprehensive concept for occupational health research and prevention. Scand J Work Environ Health 35:1–5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Inoue A, Kawakami N, Eguchi H, Miyaki K, Tsutsumi A (2015) Organizational justice and physiological coronary heart disease risk factors in Japanese employees: a cross-sectional study. Int J Behav Med 22:775–785

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jaaskelainen A et al (2016) Work ability index and perceived work ability as predictors of disability pension: a prospective study among Finnish municipal employees. Scand J Work Environ Health 42:490–499. doi:10.5271/sjweh.3598

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Juvani A et al (2016) Organizational justice and disability pension from all-causes, depression and musculoskeletal diseases: a Finnish cohort study of public sector employees. Scand J Work Environ Health 42:395–404

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim IH, Muntaner C, Vahid Shahidi F, Vives A, Vanroelen C, Benach J (2012) Welfare states, flexible employment, and health: a critical review. Health Policy 104:99–127

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kivimaki M, Virtanen M, Elovainio M, Kouvonen A, Vaananen A, Vahtera J (2006) Work stress in the etiology of coronary heart disease—a meta-analysis. Scand J Work Environ Health 32:431–442

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kivimaki M, Vahtera J, Elovainio M, Virtanen M, Siegrist J (2007) Effort-reward imbalance, procedural injustice and relational injustice as psychosocial predictors of health: complementary or redundant models? Occup Environ Med 64:659–665

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klasen B, Hallner D, Schnaub C, Wilburger R, Hasenbring M (2004) Validation and reliability of the German version of the Chronic Pain Grade questionnaire in primary care back pain patients. Psychosoc Med 1:Doc07

    Google Scholar 

  • Labriola M, Lund T (2007) Self-reported sickness absence as a risk marker of future disability pension. Prospective findings from the DWECS/DREAM study 1990–2004. Int J Med Sci 4:153–158

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lang FR, Lüdtke O, Schupp J, Wagner GG (2011) Short assessment of the Big Five: robust across survey methods except telephone interviewing. Behav Res Methods 43:548–567

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lanzieri G (2011) The greying of the baby boomers. A century-long view of ageing in European populations. Stat Focus 23:1–11

    Google Scholar 

  • Linton SJ et al (2014) The effect of the work environment on future sleep disturbances: a systematic review. Sleep Med Rev 23C:10–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Little R, Rubin D (2002) Statistical analysis with missing data. Wiley, Hoboken

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Moorman RH (1991) Relationship between organizational justice and organizational citizen behaviour: does fairness perception influence employee citizenship? J Appl Psychol 76:845–855

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nakagawa Y et al (2015) Change in organizational justice and job performance in Japanese employees: a prospective cohort study. J Occup Health 57:388–393

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ndjaboué R, Brisson C, Vénzina M (2012) Organisational justice and mental health: a systematic review of prospective studies. Occup Environ Med 69:694–700

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Niedhammer I, Tek ML, Starke D, Siegrist J (2004) Effort-reward imbalance model and self-reported health: cross-sectional and prospective findings from the GAZEL cohort. Soc Sci Med 58:1531–1541

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Podsakoff PM, MacKenzie SB, Lee JY, Podsakoff NP (2003) Common method biases in behavioral research: a critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. J Appl Psychol 88:879–903

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rautio M, Michelsen T (2013) How to use the work ability index questionnaire. Tammerprint, Tampere

    Google Scholar 

  • Royston P, White I (2011) Multiple imputation by chained equations (MICE): implementation in Stata. J Stat Softw 45:2–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rugulies R, Aust B, Madsen IEH (2016) Effort–reward imbalance and affective disorders. In: Siegrist J, Wahrendorf M (eds) Work stress and health in a globalized economy: the model of effort–reward imbalance. Springer International Publishing, Cham, pp 103–143

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Siegrist J, Wege N, Puhlhofer F, Wahrendorf M (2009) A short generic measure of work stress in the era of globalization: effort-reward imbalance. Int Arch Occup Environ 82:1005–1013

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siegrist J et al (2014) Validating abbreviated measures of effort-reward imbalance at work in European cohort studies: the IPD-Work consortium. Int Arch Occup Environ 87:249–256

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spanier K, Radoschewski FM, Gutenbrunner C, Bethge M (2014) Direct and indirect effects of organizational justice on work ability. Occup Med (Lond) 64:638–643

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Stansfeld SA, Bosma H, Hemingway H, Marmot MG (1998) Psychosocial work characteristics and social support as predictors of SF-36 health functioning: the Whitehall II study. Psychosom Med 60:247–255

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Steptoe A, Siegrist J, Kirschbaum C, Marmot M (2004) Effort-reward imbalance, overcommitment, and measures of cortisol and blood pressure over the working day. Psychosom Med 66:323–329

    Google Scholar 

  • von Bonsdorff ME et al (2014) Organizational justice, selection, optimization with compensation, and nurses’ work ability. J Occup Environ Med 56:326–330

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watson D, Pennebaker JW (1989) Health complaints, stress, and distress: exploring the central role of negative affectivity. Psychol Rev 96:234–254

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ybema JF, Van den Bos K (2010) Effects of organizational justice on depressive symptoms and sickness absence: a longitudinal perspective. Soc Sci Med 70:1609–1617

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ybema JF, van der Meer L, Leijten FR (2016) Longitudinal relationships between organizational justice, productivity loss, and sickness absence among older employees. Int J Behav Med 23:645–654. doi:10.1007/s12529-016-9546-y

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Katja Spanier.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Spanier, K., Peters, E., Michel, E. et al. Associations between organizational injustice and work ability, self-reported disability days, and medical consultations: cross-sectional findings from employees with prior sickness absence payments. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 90, 789–797 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-017-1242-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-017-1242-y

Keywords

Navigation