: Political cynicism undermines democratic states and is on the rise in Europe. A better understanding of the processes and predictors of political cynicism is both timely and relevant. Bridging work psychology and political sciences, we investigate the relationship between perceptions of effort-reward imbalance from the workplace and their association with political cynicism. We predict that perceived control at work mediates the relationship between effort-reward imbalance and political cynicism. Moreover, we investigate the role of time and study the proposed relationships using several analytical approaches in a cross-lagged panel design. Analyses were based on 277 Belgian workers (time lag: 8 months). Relationships were supported in the cross-sectional and over-time analyses but not in the fully longitudinal model accounting for autoregressive effects; reverse causation effects were not found. There are some signs that contributing to work and not feeling adequately rewarded may be a relevant factor in better understanding political attitudes. Zusammenfassung: Politischer Zynismus untergr & auml;bt demokratische Staaten und nimmt in Europa zu. Ein besseres Verst & auml;ndnis der Prozesse und Pr & auml;diktoren von politischem Zynismus ist daher zeitgem & auml;ss und relevant. Arbeitspsychologie und Politikwissenschaft verkn & uuml;pfend untersuchen wir den Zusammenhang zwischen der Wahrnehmung eines Ungleichgewichts zwischen Aufwand und Belohnung am Arbeitsplatz und dessen Verbindung zu politischem Zynismus. Wir erwarten, dass wahrgenommene Kontrolle am Arbeitsplatz als indirekter Effekt zwischen diesem Ungleichgewicht und politischem Zynismus wirkt. Dar & uuml;ber hinaus untersuchen wir die Rolle der Zeit und analysieren die angenommenen Zusammenh & auml;nge in einem Cross-Lagged-Panel-Design. Die Analysen basieren auf Daten von N = 277 Arbeitnehmern aus Belgien (Zeitintervall: 8 Monate). Die Zusammenh & auml;nge zeigen sich in den Querschnitts- und l & auml;ngsschnittlichen Analysen, nicht jedoch im vollst & auml;ndig longitudinalen Modell, welches autoregressive Effekte ber & uuml;cksichtigt. Auch fanden sich keine Hinweise auf umgekehrte Kausalit & auml;t. Resultate zeigen dennoch, dass hohe Verausgabung bei unzureichender Belohnung ein relevanter Faktor f & uuml;r das Verst & auml;ndnis politischer Einstellungen sein k & ouml;nnte.

The rise of non-standard work arrangements has increased the need for research on career sustainability within these contexts, yet insights remain limited. In this study, we explore how gig workers employed by so-called umbrella companies understand and navigate their seemingly contradictory work arrangement. Building on the framework of sustainable careers, we conducted a reflexive thematic analysis with gig workers employed by Swedish umbrella companies. Results challenge the common portrayal of gig work as inherently precarious, as workers found ways to create a meaningful and sustainable career sequence. Participants perceived umbrella companies as enabling hyper-flexibility and hyper-individualization, thereby enhancing their person-career fit. However, they also acknowledged the limitations and potential societal challenges of this work model. We discuss how the sustainable career framework can capture the complexity of how employed gig workers made sense of their careers.

While organizational justice perceptions are often thought to be stable, empirical evidence highlights substantial within-person fluctuations over time. The development of these justice fluctuations may have important implications for newcomers' enactment of organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB). Building on fairness heuristics theory to consider the perception of justice as a dynamic phenomenon, we predict that the developmental nature of overall organizational justice (OOJ) perceptions varies between people following three trajectories. A Canadian sample of 103 participants responded to weekly surveys across 17 weeks, resulting in 986 observations. By means of latent class growth modeling, we identified one stable and two dynamic OOJ trajectories. These OOJ trajectories were differentially related to the enactment of OCB. Respondents characterized by the major negative change trajectory (decreasing levels of OOJ) had the lowest levels of OCB enactment, whereas respondents characterized by the stable and minor negative change OOJ trajectory had equally high levels of OCB enactment. Even when accounting for variable-centered between-person elements (primacy, recency and halo effects) when predicting OCB enactment at the end of the study, we found significant effects for the developmental nature of one's OOJ. We discuss the importance of these findings for organizational justice theory as well as their implications for practice.

Gig work has been increasing in past years and is usually portrayed as a precarious and vulnerable non-standard employment form characterized by high insecurity. To better understand insecurity experiences of gig workers, we explore whether and how insecurity perceptions in relation to gig, financial, career and business domains are combined in distinct insecurity profiles. To characterize found profiles, potential antecedents (demographics, gig work motives, gig employment characteristics and labor market factors) to insecurity perceptions are studied. This study focuses on employed gig workers in Sweden, who work client-based and find their own assignments, but also have an umbrella company as their legal employer. Based on 227 employed gig workers, four distinct insecurity profiles were identified. The ‘predictable secure’ (40%), the ‘career secure’ (20%), the ‘client and career insecure’ (24%) and the ‘highly insecure’ (17%). Results indicate that not all gig workers experience insecurity or work in a precarious employment form. Instead, at least for some, gig work can provide employment that is perceived as intrinsically motivating. Others needed gig work for their income and were using gig work not solely as sideline activity. Results also reveal that several aspects of job insecurity are important to consider when differentiating the heterogenous group of gig workers. This study concludes that policies may be needed for vulnerable groups to identify solutions that reduce insecurity in client-based work. Preferably, this can be done in dialogue between employers, unions, gig workers and their clients.

PurposeSolo entrepreneurs interact with external stakeholders such as clients, financiers, government agencies and unions, yet how they perceive the fairness of these interactions is not fully understood. This study examines fairness perceptions among solo entrepreneurs towards governmental agencies, financiers, clients and unions and their associations for well-being (career satisfaction, self-rated health) and self-rated job performance.Design/methodology/approachA survey study with solo entrepreneurs in Sweden at T1 (N = 485) and a follow-up six months later (N = 192) was conducted. Latent profile analyses were utilized and differences between profiles of fairness perceptions were tested.FindingsFour distinct fairness profiles were identified: "Unfair", "Fair", "Financiers and Government Fair", and "Average Fair". These profiles differed significantly in career satisfaction, self-rated health and job performance at both timepoints. Some differences between profiles in demographic and business characteristics were found. Findings highlight the particular importance of fairness perceptions in relation to government agencies and financial entities for solo entrepreneurs' well-being and performance.Originality/valueThis study underscores the role of perceived fairness in fostering a healthy and productive entrepreneurial environment, offering insights for stakeholders aiming to promote sustainable entrepreneurship.

Despite extensive research on organisational justice, it remains unknown how organisational justice aspects interrelate and co-occur in individuals. Using a person-centred approach, and latent profile analysis specifically, we examine profiles of procedural, distributive (as measured by effort-reward imbalance), interpersonal, informational, and overall justice. Profiles are validated with covariates as well as work and health outcomes cross-sectionally and prospectively over time. Data from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health (SLOSH) from 2018 (n = 9,756) and 2020 (n = 7,542) were used. Based on data from 2018, we found four different profiles: an ‘Average justice’ profile, a ‘High justice’ profile, a ‘Low justice’ profile and a ‘Low process-focused justice’ profile. The ‘Low justice’ profile, especially, was comprised of a high proportion of women, lower educated, public-sector employees and shift workers. The ‘Low justice’ profile showed high levels of intentions to leave, suboptimal general health and low job satisfaction in 2018 and 2020. Results highlight the importance of organisational justice to maintain a healthy and motivated workforce and indicate that low levels of procedural justice might partly be mitigated by high levels of interactional justice. The study responds to the appeal by justice researchers to consider the experiential nature of justice perceptions and underscores the merit of moving beyond variable-oriented methods.

There is often a gap between what managers perceive they do in terms of fairness (managers’ justice enactment perceptions) and how fairly employees feel treated by their supervisor (employees’ organizational justice perceptions). This study investigates three managerial actions as potential predictors of congruence in managers’ justice enactment and employees’ justice perceptions. Using individual pay setting as context, the authors hypothesize that goal clarity, continuous feedback, and supervisory credibility predict congruence in justice perceptions (distributive, procedural, interpersonal, and informational justice). Analyses are based on 124 pay-setting managers with their employees from an industrial company in Sweden. Results reveal that goal clarity, continuous feedback, and supervisor credibility reduce the mean-value difference in justice perceptions between managers and employees. This study broadens the organizational justice literature by contributing with a new way of simultaneously studying justice enactment and justice perceptions to further knowledge on how to facilitate and improve fairness in organizations.

Based on transactional stress theory, this article provides an empirical glimpse into how entrepreneurs in Sweden have experienced the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors investigated the impact of two crisis-induced stressors (unpredictability, loneliness) on two aspects of entrepreneurial success (business and personal success) through the indirect effect of eudaimonic well-being. They examined the role of crisis-related entrepreneurial actions (applying for government financial support, engaging in online business activities). Results from a sample of entrepreneurs operating in Sweden in the summer of 2020 revealed that unpredictability and loneliness were negatively related to business and personal success via eudaimonic well-being. Results for the moderating effects of the crisis-related entrepreneurial actions revealed mixed findings. The results provide valuable insights into the mechanisms that tie entrepreneurial stressors and opportunities for action to eudaimonic well-being, and in turn, entrepreneurial success in the early days of the crisis caused by the pandemic.

How can entrepreneurs protect their wellbeing during a crisis? Does engaging agility (namely, opportunity agility and planning agility) in response to adversity help entrepreneurs safeguard their wellbeing? Activated by adversity, agility may function as a specific resilience mechanism enabling positive adaption to crisis. We studied 3162 entrepreneurs from 20 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic and found that more severe national lockdowns enhanced firm-level adversity for entrepreneurs and diminished their wellbeing. Moreover, entrepreneurs who combined opportunity agility with planning agility experienced higher wellbeing but planning agility alone lowered wellbeing. Entrepreneur agility offers a new agentic perspective to research on entrepreneur wellbeing.

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.

Organizational justice refers to workers' perceptions of the fairness and appropriateness of the treatment that they receive on the job. Most organizational justice research has emphasized criterion variables that are of traditional interest to managers. This body of work has been impressive. When employees perceive justice, they tend to exhibit higher levels of job performance, more organizational citizenship behaviours, and better work attitudes, among other benefits (Colquitt et al., 2013; Rupp et al., 2014). While these are important findings, there is considerable evidence, albeit less well-known, that organizational justice promotes well-being and mental health (e.g., Cropanzano & Wright, 2011; Greenberg, 2010; Ndjaboué et al., 2012; Robbins et al., 2012). The purpose of this chapter is to provide a review of this research literature. To do so, the chapter is organized as follows. First, the construct of organizational justice is briefly defined and discussed, with an emphasis on its theoretical relationship to mental health. Secondly, more detailed accounts of the available empirical literature on organizational justice and mental health are provided and suggestions for further research are highlighted. Finally, the chapter is concluded with a summary of intervention approaches at different levels.

Organizational injustice is known to negatively affect employees' health and to increase the risk for sickness absence. The negative health effects are also known to be more pronounced in uncontrollable, strain increasing, situations at the workplace. This study tests whether locked-in status, i.e., being stuck in a non-preferred workplace, modifies the associations between injustice perceptions and frequent (≥2 times/yr) and long (≥ 8 days/yr) sickness absence. The sample contained 2631 permanent employees from the Swedish Longitudinal Occupational Survey of Health in 2018 and 2020. Multigroup structural equation modelling was used to compare the proposed relationships between employees who are locked-in in their workplace and employees who are not. We found a positive association between higher overall organizational injustice and long sickness absence two years later, with the association being stronger for the locked-in group. Also, higher injustice was associated with more frequent sickness absence, but only for those not being locked-in. Employees being locked-in seem to have higher risk of long-term sickness absence which might indicate more serious health problems. Employees not being locked-in more often take short sickness absence, which could indicate a coping behaviour to handle high strain. This study adds knowledge to the role of locked-in status as a moderator in the much-studied relationship between organizational justice and health as well as to the multiple reasons underlying sickness absence.

Building on the Ability-Motivation-Opportunity framework, we investigate managers’ ability, motivation, and opportunity as predictors of managers’ self-reported justice enactment during pay setting. Data from 168 managers from a large industrial company in Sweden were analyzed with hierarchical multiple regression analyses to predict the four dimensions of enacted justice (distributive, procedural, informational, interpersonal). Ability indicators contributed to all justice enactment dimensions, with self-efficacy in one’s role as pay-setting manager being positively related to all justice enactment dimensions. Motivation indicators contributed to three justice enactment dimensions (not informational), with managers’ outcome expectations of pay setting being positively related to distributive justice enactment. Opportunity indicators contributed to three justice enactment dimensions (not interpersonal), where social support in the pay-setting process predicted these justice enactment dimensions. Demographics and personality variables only explained additional variance in interpersonal justice enactment. The paper sheds light on the managers’ side of justice in pay setting, and highlights the relevance of resources to equip managers with ability, motivation, and opportunities in order to perceive that they can be fair during pay setting.

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.

Fairness at work is a crucial factor for lasting work performance and well-being at work. The chapter begins with the conceptualizations of fairness at work and organizational justice, its different dimensions and developments over time, as well as the multiple ways on how to measure the concepts.Next, the chapter condenses the extensive empirical evidence on the consequences of fairness at work for employees’ work-related attitudes and behaviors as well as the consequences for groups, customers, and other stakeholders. We particularly highlight the growing literature on fairness and health, providing an account of longitudinal studies on a selection of health outcomes, underlying mechanisms for the justice-health relationships, and evidence of reversed effects.The chapter focuses on several aspects of fairness at work that are relevant at different stages of organizational changes. It is outlined how fairness at work can help employees manage uncertainties, threatened identities, and changed inputs and outputs that organizational changes often trigger. It is presented how, why, and when fairness perceptions may themselves undergo a change, triggered by organizational changes.Lastly, we briefly present issues relevant for implementing fairness at work effectively, outlining relevant boundary conditions and available intervention studies.

We study how entrepreneurs and their well-being are impacted by crises and which entrepreneurs are able to safeguard their well-being. We examine the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in a multilevel study of 3,149 entrepreneurs from 20 countries and draw attention to entrepreneur agility (flexible and adaptive action) both as a crisis response strategy and as a possible way for entrepreneurs to protect their well-being. We find that agile entrepreneurs, especially those that recognized new opportunities for their business in the pandemic, had better well-being during the pandemic (life satisfaction and vitality). Our findings offer further insights into agility as a response to adversity and whether it is enabled by cultural contexts supporting agility and entrepreneurs' human capital.

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.