Is organizational justice climate at the workplace associated with individual-level quality of care and organizational affective commitment? A multi-level, cross-sectional study on dentistry in Sweden

TY - JOUR

T1 - Is organizational justice climate at the workplace associated with individual-level quality of care and organizational affective commitment?

T2 - A multi-level, cross-sectional study on dentistry in Sweden

AU - Berthelsen, Hanne

AU - Conway, Paul Maurice

AU - Clausen, Thomas

PY - 2018/2

Y1 - 2018/2

N2 - Purpose: The aim of this study is to investigate whether organizational justice climate at the workplace level is associated with individual staff members’ perceptions of care quality and affective commitment to the workplace. Methods: The study adopts a cross-sectional multi-level design. Data were collected using an electronic survey and a response rate of 75% was obtained. Organizational justice climate and affective commitment to the workplace were measured by items from Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire and quality of care by three self-developed items. Non-managerial staff working at dental clinics with at least five respondents (n = 900 from 68 units) was included in analyses. A set of Level-2 random intercept models were built to predict individual-level organizational affective commitment and perceived quality of care from unit-level organizational justice climate, controlling for potential confounding by group size, gender, age, and occupation. Results: The results of the empty model showed substantial between-unit variation for both affective commitment (ICC-1 = 0.17) and quality of care (ICC-1 = 0.12). The overall results showed that the shared perception of organizational justice climate at the clinical unit level was significantly associated with perceived quality of care and affective commitment to the organization (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Organizational justice climate at work unit level explained all variation in affective commitment among dental clinics and was associated with both the individual staff members’ affective commitment and perceived quality of care. These findings suggest a potential for that addressing organizational justice climate may be a way to promote quality of care and enhancing affective commitment. However, longitudinal studies are needed to support causality in the examined relationships. Intervention research is also recommended to probe the effectiveness of actions increasing unit-level organizational justice climate and test their impact on quality of care and affective commitment.

AB - Purpose: The aim of this study is to investigate whether organizational justice climate at the workplace level is associated with individual staff members’ perceptions of care quality and affective commitment to the workplace. Methods: The study adopts a cross-sectional multi-level design. Data were collected using an electronic survey and a response rate of 75% was obtained. Organizational justice climate and affective commitment to the workplace were measured by items from Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire and quality of care by three self-developed items. Non-managerial staff working at dental clinics with at least five respondents (n = 900 from 68 units) was included in analyses. A set of Level-2 random intercept models were built to predict individual-level organizational affective commitment and perceived quality of care from unit-level organizational justice climate, controlling for potential confounding by group size, gender, age, and occupation. Results: The results of the empty model showed substantial between-unit variation for both affective commitment (ICC-1 = 0.17) and quality of care (ICC-1 = 0.12). The overall results showed that the shared perception of organizational justice climate at the clinical unit level was significantly associated with perceived quality of care and affective commitment to the organization (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Organizational justice climate at work unit level explained all variation in affective commitment among dental clinics and was associated with both the individual staff members’ affective commitment and perceived quality of care. These findings suggest a potential for that addressing organizational justice climate may be a way to promote quality of care and enhancing affective commitment. However, longitudinal studies are needed to support causality in the examined relationships. Intervention research is also recommended to probe the effectiveness of actions increasing unit-level organizational justice climate and test their impact on quality of care and affective commitment.

KW - Attitude of Health Personnel

KW - Cross-Sectional Studies

KW - Dentistry/organization & administration

KW - Female

KW - Humans

KW - Male

KW - Motivation

KW - Organizational Culture

KW - Personnel Loyalty

KW - Quality of Health Care

KW - Sweden

KW - Workplace/psychology

U2 - 10.1007/s00420-017-1275-2

DO - 10.1007/s00420-017-1275-2

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 29124319

SN - 0340-0131

VL - 91

SP - 237

EP - 245

JO - International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health

JF - International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health

IS - 2

ER -