Organizational Justice and Refraining from Seeking Medical Care Among Japanese Employees: A 1-Year Prospective Cohort Study

Abstract

BackgroundUsing a 1-year prospective design, we examined the association of organizational justice (i.e., procedural justice and interactional justice) with refraining from seeking medical care (RSMC) among Japanese employees.MethodsWe surveyed 2695 employees (1994 men and 701 women) from two factories of a manufacturing company in Japan. A self-administered questionnaire comprising scales for measuring organizational justice (Organizational Justice Questionnaire) and potential confounders (i.e., demographic and socioeconomic characteristics as well as health-related behaviors) was administered at baseline (from April to June 2011). At 1-year follow-up (from April to June 2012), a single-item question was used to measure RSMC during the follow-up period. Multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted by gender.ResultsAfter adjusting for potential confounders, low procedural justice and low interactional justice at baseline were found to be significantly associated with higher odds of RSMC during the 1-year follow-up for male employees (odds ratio = 1.33 [95% confidence interval = 1.16–1.52], p < 0.001 and 1.15 [95% confidence interval = 1.02–1.29], p = 0.019, respectively). Similar patterns were observed for female employees (odds ratio = 1.37 [95% confidence interval = 1.08–1.74], p = 0.009 and 1.23 [95% confidence interval = 1.02–1.50], p = 0.035 for low procedural justice and low interactional justice, respectively).ConclusionsThe present study provided evidence that the lack of organizational justice is positively associated with RSMC among Japanese employees, independently of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics as well as of health-related behaviors.

Organizational justice and illness reporting among Japanese employees with chronic diseases

“…This suggests that employees’ interactions with supervisors affect proactive behavior toward workplace–patient coordination and disease treatment among employees with chronic diseases. This result was consistent with previous evidence that showed organizational justice was positively associated with employees’ help-seeking behavior [21, 22]. Trust and mutual respect are important components of interactional justice as expressed in interactions with supervisors, and play a central role in this association [34].…”

“…A previous study showed that inferences regarding organizational justice also affected the successful implementation of processes to accommodate other employees [20]. A lack of organizational justice has been shown to be positively associated with Japanese employees refraining from seeking medical care [21], whereas organizational justice is positively associated with help-seeking behavior [22]. Organizational justice may be an important factor that influences the decisions of employees with chronic disease regarding reporting their illness to their employer.…”

Organizational Justice and Health: Reviewing Two Decades of Studies

“…(3) Seeking Medical Care. Lack of procedural justice has been associated with refraining from seeking medical care among Japanese employees at one-year follow-up [99].…”

Factors Affecting the Effectiveness of Employees’ Performance Appraisal in Private Hospitals in Malaysia

“…Interactional justice is perceived degree to which one is treated with respect (Inoue, Tsutsumi, Eguchi, & Kawakami, 2019). Among the three forms of justice, distributive justice is highly related to employees' satisfaction with outcomes (i.e.…”

“…get promoted) and organizational commitment, as they perceived fairness when they think that they received outcomes that they deserved. On the other hand, procedural justice is highly linked to job satisfaction, level of trust, turnover rate and task performance as employees will put efforts to achieve the desired outcomes and were given explanation of why they received the given rates (Inoue et al, 2019). Employees' perceived fairness has a direct impact on the effectiveness of performance appraisal that led to fair perception on performance appraisal system and eventually induces a positive impact on employees' performance in the organization (Zohaib, 2014).…”