A selection from Stockholm University publication database

• You can't always get what you want: mechanisms and consequences of intra-organizational job change among middle managers in Sweden

  2022. Constanze Eib (et al.). International Journal of Human Resource Management 33 (15), 2961-2990

  Article

  An intra-organizational change process involving all middle managers was studied in a public sector organization in Sweden over three time points, spanning two years in total. Using sensemaking and the person-environmental fit literature as well studies on promotion and demotion, hypotheses about the effects of managerial status loss and being offered a non-preferred role (non-preference) on change reactions (job satisfaction, turnover intentions, mental health) are made. Data from 140 middle managers was analyzed with path models, where two process factors (perceived organizational support during the change, procedural justice of the change) and two job characteristics (job demand, job control) were tested simultaneously as mediators. Results revealed that managerial status loss had negative effects on work attitudes but mental health was positively affected over time through decreased job demands. Non-preference had negative consequences for all outcome variables and these effects were mediated through lower procedural justice of the change, lower job control, and for some outcomes, lower perceived organizational support during the change. The results provide insight into how middle managers react to change, and suggest that process justice and job characteristics play an important part in shaping these reactions.

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• Trajectories of Procedural and Interactional Justice as Predictors of Retirement among Swedish Workers: Differences between Three Groups of Retirees

  2021. Constanze Eib (et al.). International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 18 (12)

  Article

  Organizational justice is an important aspect of the psychosocial work environment, but there is a lack of studies on whether justice perceptions also predict retirement decisions. The aim of this study is to examine trajectories of procedural and interactional justice perceptions prior to retirement of three groups of retirees while considering self-rated health and important demographics. Data from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (2006-2018, N = 3000) were used. Respondents were grouped into early retirement, normative retirement and late retirement. Latent growth curve models and multinomial logistic regressions were conducted to test whether trajectories of justice perceptions prior to retirement differed between retirement groups while controlling for self-rated health development and demographic variables. Late retirees had higher intercept levels of interactional justice and higher intercept levels of self-rated health prior to retirement, compared to early retirees. Late retirees also showed a slower decrease in procedural justice compared to early retirees. Only intercept levels of self-rated health differed between early retirees and normative retirees, such that early retirees had lower levels of self-rated health prior to retirement. Keeping employees in the workforce is a major challenge for any aging society. Organizational justice perceptions in the years prior to retirement seem particularly influential for delaying retirement.

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• Is interpersonal justice related to group and organizational turnover? Results from a Swedish panel study

  2020. Constanze Leineweber (et al.). Social Science and Medicine 265

  Article

  Rational: Research on the relationship between organizational justice and turnover has mainly focused on turnover intentions rather than behavior, and the role of health in this relationship has been widely ignored.

  Objective: In his study, we hypothesized that interpersonal justice perceptions and self-rated health impact on later group (changing work groups while staying in the organization) and organizational turnover (changing organizations). The main effect of self-rated health on group and organizational turnover, as well as its moderating influence on the relationship between interpersonal justice perceptions and turnover, was investigated. Finally, we investigated whether group and organizational turnover are related to changes in subsequent interpersonal justice perceptions.

  Methods: Swedish panel data from permanent workers answering at up to five consecutive time points were used, and multilevel structural equation models were calculated.

  Results: Results showed that low interpersonal justice perceptions increase the risk of subsequent organizational, but not group, turnover. Lower levels of self-rated health predicted group, but not organizational, turnover. The effect of interpersonal justice perceptions on organizational turnover differed depending on self-rated health. Among those with poorer self-rated health, the negative association between interpersonal justice perceptions and organizational turnover was less pronounced. We also found that organizational turnover associated positively and group turnover negatively with changes in interpersonal justice perceptions.

  Conclusion: In conclusion, perceiving interpersonal justice decreases the risk of organizational turnover, but the association is less pronounced among employees with poor self-rated health.

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• Just What I See? Implications of Congruence Between Supervisors’ and Employees’ Perceptions of Pay Justice for Employees’ Work-Related Attitudes and Behaviors

  2020. Sofia Malmrud (et al.). Frontiers in Psychology 11

  Article

  Perceiving a pay system as just has been suggested to be a precondition for individualized pay to have a motivating effect for employees. Supervisors’ enacted justice is central for understanding the effects that pay setting can have on employee attitudes and behavior. Yet, enacted justice has received little research attention, in regard to both organizational justice and pay-related topics. This study examines the effects of employees’ perceived pay justice and supervisors’ enacted justice, as well as the degree of congruence, on employees’ work-related attitudes and behaviors. Questionnaire data from employees (N = 566) matched with data from their pay-setting supervisors (N = 208), employed in a Swedish manufacturing company, were analyzed. Results of polynomial regression with response surface analysis show that employees’ perceptions of pay justice were important for their work-related attitudes and behaviors and that supervisor–employee congruence regarding pay justice was positively related to employees’ attitudes and behavior, particularly when the ratings concerned high levels of justice. The results not only highlight the importance of developing a pay system that is perceived as just by employees but also emphasize the importance of reaching a congruence between supervisors’ and employees’ perceptions of high fairness, as this has positive implications for employees’ attitudes and behaviors.

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Show all publications by Constanze Eib at Stockholm University