The influence of and change in procedural justice on self-rated health trajectories: Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health results

Objectives: Procedural justice perceptions are shown to be associated with minor psychiatric disorders, long sickness absence spells and poor self-rated health, but previous studies have rarely considered how changes in procedural justice influence changes in health. Methods: Data from four consecutive biennial waves of the Swedish Longitudinal Survey of Health (SLOSH) study (N=5,854) were used to examine trajectories of self-rated health. Adjusting for age, sex, socioeconomic position, and marital status, we study the predictive power of change in procedural justice perceptions using individual growth curve models within a multilevel framework. Results: The results show that self-rated health trajectories slowly decline over time. The rate of change was influenced by age and sex, with older people and women showing a slower rate of change in self-rated health. After adjusting for age, sex, socioeconomic position, and marital status, procedural justice was significantly associated with self-rated health. Also, improvements in procedural justice were associated with improvements in self-rated health. Additionally, a reverse relationship with self-rated health and change in self-rated health predicting procedural justice was found. Conclusions: Our findings support the idea that procedural justice at work is a crucial aspect of the psychosocial work environment and that changes towards more procedural justice could influence self-rated health positively. The reciprocal association of procedural justice and self-rated health warrants further research

Recessionary changes at work and employee well-being: the protective roles of national- and workplace institutions

The recession following the 2008 financial crisis brought major changes to employees’ experiences at work. We investigate the adverse effects of two of such changes: perceived organizational distress and job deterioration. We also examine the extent to which institutions at national level (employment protection legislation and collective bargaining coverage) and at workplace level (employment contract and union membership) may act as buffers against these effects. Using data from 21 European countries, we show that recessionary changes were associated with reduced psychological well-being and greater levels of work–nonwork interference

Sustainable return to work: A systematic review focusing on personal and social factors

Purpose: A systematic review was conducted to evaluate the impact of important personal and social factors on sustainable return to work (RTW) after ill-health due musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and common mental disorders (CMDs) and to compare the effects of these personal and social factors across both conditions. Sustainable RTW is defined as a stable full-time or part-time RTW to either original or modified job for a period of at least three months without relapse or sickness absence re-occurrence. Methods: A literature search was conducted in 13 databases and 79 studies were selected for the review, of which the methodological design was graded as very high, high and low quality. Results: The most consistent evidence for achieving sustainable RTW for both MSDs and CMDs was from support from line managers or supervisors and co-workers, positive attitude, self-efficacy, young age and higher education levels. Job crafting, economic status, length of absence and job contract/security showed promising results, but too few studies exist to draw definite conclusions. Results regarding gender were inconsistent. Conclusions: This review demonstrates that a variety of personal and social factors have positive and negative influences on sustainable RTW. We suggest that the social environment and how it interrelates with personal factors like attitudes and self-efficacy should be studied in more detail in the future as the inter-relationship between these factors appears to impact positively on sustainable RTW outcomes. Areas for future research include more high-quality studies on job crafting, economic status/income, length of absence, job contract/security and gender

Sustainable return to work for workers with mental health and musculoskeletal conditions

Common mental health and musculoskeletal disorders (CMDs and MSDs) are two of the most significant causes of non-participation in employment amongst working age adults. Background: This case study fills an important gap in the scientific literature on reintegration back to work after sickness absence due to CMDs and MSDs. It particularly examines the return to work (RTW) experiences of sick-listed employees to understand the facilitators and barriers of sustainable RTW. Methods: Using a realist evaluation approach within a qualitative inquiry, perceptions of employees were explored to provide in-depth understanding of what, how and under what circumstances sustainable RTW can be enabled for employees absent on a short- or long-term basis. Repeat face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 participants (15 women and 7 men, aged 30–50 years and sick-listed with MSDs and CMDs) who were recruited using purposive sampling. Data was thematically analysed. Results: A total of 2 main codes and 5 subcodes were developed and grouped into three theoretical abstractions. As a result of validating the context, mechanism, and outcome configurations with accounts of participants, all three initial theories explaining the most prominent mechanisms that either facilitates or impedes a sustainable RTW for people with CMDs and MSDs were justified. Conclusions: Our findings reveal the active role of line managers on the RTW outcomes of returning employees. However, line-manager’s competence and ability to effectively support and implement appropriate RTW strategies suited to employees’ hinges on working in alignment with key stakeholders and returning employees

Entrepreneurship during the Covid-19 Pandemic: A global study of entrepreneurs' challenges, resilience, and well-being

Summary: Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs including the self-employed) account for 90% of businesses globally and provide 70% of employment worldwide. These businesses, typically entrepreneur led, are threatened by the Covid-19 pandemic, meaning that millions of jobs are at risk. This report presents insights from a global study conducted during the pandemic in 2020. We surveyed over 5,000 entrepreneurs in 23 countries that represent 3/4 of the world’s economic output. Most entrepreneurs faced significant challenges threatening the survival of their businesses. We also see resilience in how entrepreneurs navigated the crisis through being agile, adaptive, and exploring new opportunities, utilizing government support, giving back to society, and even harbouring growth ambitions beyond the pandemic. Entrepreneurs’ mental well-being dropped by 12% in the pandemic presenting another threat to their businesses. We chart stressors and well-being resources including social support and self-care strategies that entrepreneurs engaged to stay productive. We close the report (1) by reflecting on five trends for the post-Covid economy and formulate actionable policy recommendations of how entrepreneurs and SMEs can be supported in light of these trends (digitalisation; ‘local’ focus, inclusive business models, developing personal and business resilience), and (2) offer five practical steps for entrepreneurs to protect their well-being

Does organisational justice predict employees’ organisational survival? A five years’ study

The empirical evidence on the relationship between organisational justice and turnover is still in question. Most studies have explored the relationship between procedural justice and turnover intentions, studies on actual turnover are rare, have also only focused on procedural justice and found inconsistent results (Posthuma, Maertz, &amp; Dworkin, 2007). Recently, a shift from specific justice dimensions towards the consideration of overall organisational justice has been proposed (Ambrose &amp; Schminke, 2009). Stepwise logistic regression is used to explore the importance of organisational justice among other predictors for actual turnover that have been proposed such as variables from the stress and job content field (Griffeth, Hom, &amp; Gaertner, 2000). Survival analysis as the adequate statistical tool neglected so far will be applied to study whether overall organisational justice predicts the belonging to the group of the remaining or left employees which provides a more stringent test for the issue. Questionnaire data comes from Swedish accountants who were administered over the course of five years. Preliminary results hint at that organisational justice perceptions indeed were significantly lower in employees who left the organisation. Also, trust was lower, salary, job satisfaction and commitment whereas role conflict, job insecurity and health complaints were higher. The described analyses follow. This study helps clarifying inconsistent findings regarding the relationship between organisational justice and turnover, introduces the new perspective of overall organisational justice and tests whether the relation to turnover is specific to procedural justice.</p

Processes of Organizational Justice : Insights into the perception and enactment of justice

Well-being at work is of major public interest, and justice at the workplace can be a key factor contributing to employees and managers feeling well. Research has found direct relationships between organizational justice perceptions and work and health outcomes. With research on the justice–health link still emerging, this thesis examines the moderating and mediating processes for the effects of justice perceptions on work outcomes and especially health outcomes. As little is known about those who enact justice, the antecedents and consequences of justice enactment are also studied. In Study I, the relationships between organizational justice and work and health outcomes were in focus, as the moderating role of job characteristics was investigated utilizing the demand–control(–support) model. Organizational justice and job characteristics were associated with work and health outcomes within and across time. The multiplicative effects showed that the organizational justice effects were stronger when perceived job demands were high, job control was low or social support was low. Study II examined the processes through which justice perceptions translate into health outcomes. Building on the allostatic load model, mental preoccupation with work was found to be a relevant mediator of the justice–health relationship, with locus of control moderating the mediated relationships. Study III focused on the actor perspective. Investigating predictions based on the deontic model of justice and ego-depletion theory, moral regard and justice self-efficacy predicted justice enactment positively, and justice enactment had positive effects on feeling professionally recognized but also negative health consequences for the actors themselves. This thesis contributes to advancing the emergent justice–health research stream by providing insights into the processes underlying these aspects, and by incorporating this stream into the actor perspective. At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 3: Submitted.</p

Is Female Entrepreneurship Only Empowering for Single Women? Evidence from France and Germany

Entrepreneurship has been suggested as an alternative career model for women to gain economic empowerment while maintaining caring obligations. In this study, we investigate how gender and living situation affect entrepreneurs’ engagement in their business, home, well-being and business success in both France and Germany. Data from the European Social Survey were used, which included 470 French and 622 German self-employed people. For the French, women reported more working hours when living alone but there were no gender differences for the other living situations. For the Germans, there were no gender differences when the self-employed person lived alone; for the other living situations, men reported more working hours. Women reported working more household hours than men in both countries. There were no gender differences in life satisfaction for German self-employed people regardless of living situation; for the French, gender differences varied by living situation. Men reported more business success than women in both countries. Results suggest that self-employed people in Germany follow a traditional breadwinner model, whereas in France, self-employed women do more paid and unpaid work at the same time. In sum, entrepreneurship may only be empowering for self-employed women living alone.</jats:p