title: Direct and indirect effects of organizational justice on work ability.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Organizational justice (OJ), involving transparent workplace procedures and treating staff members with respect, has been of growing concern in recent epidemiological research as a determinant of health-related outcomes.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine the factorial validity of the German version of Moorman's Organizational Justice Questionnaire (OJQ), to investigate the direct cross-sectional effect of OJ on self-rated work ability and to analyse if there is an additional indirect effect of OJ on work ability mediated by effort-reward imbalance.
  
  
  METHODS
  An analysis of cross-sectional data from the Second German Sociomedical Panel of Employees, involving white-collar workers employed at least half time. We performed confirmatory factor analyses to test the factorial validity of the OJQ and analysed the direct and indirect associations of OJ and self-rated work ability by path model analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 1217 participants (47% female; mean age: 51) 36% had poor work ability. Factor analyses confirmed the two-factor structure of the German OJQ. Work ability was explained directly by OJ (β = 0.30) and effort-reward imbalance (β = -0.27). Additionally, we identified an indirect effect of OJ that was mediated by effort-reward imbalance (β = 0.14). The total effect of OJ on work ability was remarkably strong (β = 0.44). Associations remained unchanged after adjustment for socio-demographic parameters.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study showed the importance of considering additional indirect pathways when examining the impact of OJ on the work ability of employees.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Social Medicine and Epidemiology, University of Lübeck, 23583 Lübeck, Germany, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Hannover Medical School, 30625 Hannover, Germany, katja.spanier@uksh.de.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Spanier
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Research, Institute of Medical Sociology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 10098 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: F M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Radoschewski
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Hannover Medical School, 30625 Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gutenbrunner
authors.affiliation: Institute of Social Medicine and Epidemiology, University of Lübeck, 23583 Lübeck, Germany, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Hannover Medical School, 30625 Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bethge
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004651:Employment; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007221:Industry / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016272:Occupational Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D057566:Self Report; D012935:Social Justice; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014938:Work Capacity Evaluation; D016526:Workload / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017132:Workplace
keywords: Effort–reward imbalance; organizational justice; path model; structural equation model; validation; work ability.