How do organizational justice and health influence teachers’ work engagement? The mediating role of positive psychological capital and job satisfaction

ehps.net/ehp The European Health Psychologist Organizational justice has emerged as a vital construct in organizations (Cropanzano & Ambrose, 2015). Low organiza-tional justice perce-ptions have long been considered an occupational health risk (Robbins, Ford, & Tetrick, 2012). This concept refers to people’s “perceptions of fairness in organizations along with their associated behavioral, cognitive, and emotional reactions” (Greenberg, 2011, p. 271). Although there are definitions of overall organizational justice (Fortin, 2008), this concept is often considered as multidimensional including distributive, procedural, interpersonal, and informational justice (Adams, 1965; Bies & Moag, 1986; Greenberg, 1993; Leventhal, 1980). Considerable research has focused on organizational justice benefits for organizations and employees (Cropanzano, Bowen, & Gilliland, 2007). One of the individual-level outcomes that has recently drawn researchers’ attention is positive psychological capital (PsyCap) which results from the combination of self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and resilience (Luthans, Youssef, & Avolio, 2007). Strong perceptions of organizational justice communicate that employees are valued as members of the organization and they have control over their jobs, and these, in turn, increase employees’ flexible optimism, positive expectations of success, and resilience under job challenges (Hur, Rhee, & Ahn, 2015; Rego & Pinha e Cunha, 2008). PsyCap can mediate the influence of organizational justice (mainly distributive and procedural justice) on job-related outcomes, such as job satisfaction (Totawar & Nambudiri, 2014). Although PsyCap has been linked to several employees’ behavioral, attitudinal, affective, and health outcomes (Avey, Reichard, Luthans, & Mhatre, 2011; Rus & Jesus, 2010), some authors have suggested the need to expand the range of these variables by including work engagement (Sweetman & Luthans, 2010). Work engagement is a positive psychological state characterized by the association of vigor, dedication, and absorption (Bakker, Schaufeli, Leiter, & Taris, 2008). Employees competently able to accomplish their job tasks, that have expectations of positive outcomes, willpower and pathways to achieve their tasks, and are able to bounce back and beyond in face of job challenges can become absorbed, perseverant, and have more energy available to devote to their work (Sweetman & Luthans, 2010). Another benefit of organizational justice is job satisfaction (Colquitt, Conlon, Wesson, Porter, & Ng, 2001). It consists in employees’ evaluation of their work context and profession (Lease, 1998). Satisfied employees report high PsyCap (Avey et al., 2011) and work engagement (Yalabik, Popaitoon, Chowne, & Rayton, 2013). In terms of factors that shape perceptions of fairness in organizations, various authors have called for an exhaustive exploration of the organizational level-related factors (James, 2015). One of these factors is organizational health (Bennis, 2002). Gomide-Júnior and Fernandes (2008) proposed that organizational health refers to the organizational integration of individuals How do organizational justice and health influence teachers’ work engagement? The mediating role of positive psychological capital and job satisfaction original article organizational justice, health & work engagement Viseu et al.