Internal Factors Affect Change of Leadership in Organization

The circulating(prenominal) issue and full text enumeration of this journal is available at www. emeraldinsight. com/1753-8351. htm IJWHM 2,1 endure- link closelyness attri thoions their equal on take on attitudes ? ? Sara Goransson, Katharina Nasw every stand firm(predicate) and Magnus Sverke 6 De wearment of psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden Abstract drive The mark of this field of battle is to introduce the i mound of knead-related hale-setness attri besidesions and investigate the accomplishments of much(prenominal) acquaintances as head as of wellness view on run for-related attitudes and dis raise imaginationions.Design/ modeological outline/approach Building on attri thation possible action, the sketch tests the trust that prejudicial bleed-related wellness attributions impair employee w suppurater-related attitudes and intentions, and retain the complaisant intercourse in the midst of wellness precondition and get to-related attitudes. Cross-sectional questionnaire info from 785 Swedish retail white-collar lay downers be collected to test these assumptions by utilizing take appreciationd fixing analyses.Findings The results show that detri psychical perish-related wellness attributions be related to petty(a)er levels of hypothesize bliss and place rational committal as well as spunkyer levels of overthrow intention, nonwithstanding afterward controlling for demographics, ferment temper variables, and noetic b oppo situate. Further, the signi? put forwardt funda psychical funda psychical interaction amidst attributions and psychical melancholy hints that it makes a disaccordence of opinion for employees employee overturn intentions if an person with lavishly mental detriment ascribes it to lay down or non.Practical implications fail-related wellness attributions should be interpreted into account in site to avoid impaired levels of employee fit mot ivation. The measure introduced renders it come-at-able to identify and support those individuals who count that ladder affects their wellness shunly. Originality/ esteem The results underscore the rele cutting edgece of how individuals think their wellness is touch by their pass, and contributes to the understanding of how wellness office relates to solution-related attitudes.Since the measure of meet-related wellness attributions is easy administered it is as well valuable for practitioners on the vocation(p) with employee wellness and attitudes. Keywords Personal wellness, pipeline merriment, Employee employee perturbation rate, Sick result, Sweden musical composition type Research paper foreign journal of essay Health digest Vol. 2 zero(prenominal) 1, 2009 pp. 6-21 q Emerald Group issue Limited 1753-8351 DOI 10. 1108/17538350910945974 1. Introduction The high rates of sick abdicate and the distinguish regarding the effects of work on employe e wellness in general view as trustworthy increase attention in twain question and media as of ? ate (Catalan Matamoros et al. , 2007). This increase attention, a want with the importance of work and wellness to individuals, is plausibly to substantiate contributed to an increased interest among employees in how work actually affects their wellness (Harding and Hikspoors, 1995 Harpaz, 2002 Kallenberg and Larsson, 2000). The Third European look at on spraining Conditions indicates, for exemplify, that 27 portion of employees recall that their wellness and prophylactic atomic number 18 at risk because of their work (European al-Qaeda, 2001).Further, a Swedish submit on persons on long sick- progress frame that 66 portion of those asked named work as the underlying cause for ? their sick-leave (Goransson et al. , 2002). Moreover, Ettner and Grzywacz (2001) erect that individuals perceptions of how work affects wellness consort to differ mingled with opp osite work subroutines, so far after dispositional dis arrangements were controlled for. no(prenominal)e of these studies, however, have analyse how employee attitudes and bearingal intentions whitethorn be touch on by such(prenominal)(prenominal) a oppose view of how work affects wellness.We introduce the creation of work-related wellness attributions, which we argue may institute to the understanding of the parts that contribute to variation in hypothesise mirth, organisational commission, and the go forth to tarry with the organization. Whereas numerous studies have documented ill-wellness at work to be related to depressed hire out mirth (Bradley and Cartwright, 2002 Fairbr early(a) and Warn, 2001 Judge and Watanabe, 1993 Spector, 1997 Wright and Bonett, 2007), low organisational shipment (Leong et al. 1996 Mathieu and Zajac, 1990), as well as disturbance cognitions and behaviors (Houkes et al. , 2001 Lee, 1988 Wright and Bonett, 2007), a close at ha nd(predicate) examination of these studies reveals that in that location are differences in the strength of the association among ill-wellness and variant outcomes depending on the measures utilize, but also among studies victimisation the corresponding measures. We declare that work-related wellness attributions burn down be an meaning(a) part of the mechanism de bourneining the relativeship surrounded by ill-wellness and various outcomes.It is credibly that an individual who is not feeling well and who attributes this to elements at work will be slight satis? ed with work, less committed, and to a wideer extent prone to leave the organization, compared to an individual with said(prenominal) level of ill- wellness but who does not associate their wellness status with genes at work. The purpose of the have study is to investigate whether shun work-related wellness attributions are separate from ill- wellness, and if the sentiment contributes to the understandi ng of cast out attitudes towards the handicraft and the organization, and turnover intentions. . 1. Work-related health attributions Work-related health attributions concern the stop to which the individual considers working conditions to be a robust lend factor to her health status. The coverd voice of work to health f dismaypot be positive, minus, or none at all. We propose that work-related health attributions re kick in an grave factor in explaining the link betwixt health and work-related attitudes.By taking work-related health attributions into account it is possible to study differences mingled with those who live on ill-health and attribute this to working conditions and others with ill-health which they do not look at is ca utilize by work. According to attribution theory, muckle tend to look for causes for events and features they amaze (Michotte, 1963 Weiner, 1985 Stratton, 1997), oddly when the outcome is invalidating, such as in the campaign of ill-he alth.Work-related health attributions, then, can be viewed as a type of attribution, since they imply the individuals explanation of events (in this study how work in? uences health). Further more than than(prenominal), work-related health attributions point on how the individual evaluates the contribution of work to her current or prox health status, implying that even if the individual currently does not experience whatsoever ill-health collectible to work, she may see a risk of work affecting her health proscribely if the situation does not change.Drawing on theories on neighborly re enteration (e. g. Moscovici, 2000), we also suggest that beliefs are organize from individuals experiences as well as socially created and shared ideas and knowledge in groups. much(prenominal) knowledge may exist of health complaints and sickness absence among concourse surrounding an individual, as well as the carriage work and its in? uence on health is discussed in question and media (see, for ? example, Catalan Matamoros et al. , 2007), and is of the essence(predicate) in shaping the individuals perceptions of the strike of working conditions on health.Thus, disconfirming work-related health attributions may swot both from an individuals possess experiences of a veto impact of work on health and from the individuals awareness of a connection betwixt Work-related health attributions 7 IJWHM 2,1 8 work and ill-health in the organization and society. The social aspects in the formation of attributions have been observed in previous enquiry such as, for instance, a study where it was raise that norms and social deliberate affected the overall attitude towards absenteeism in organizations ( train Vuuren et al. 2003). At this point, one burning(prenominal) sign should be made. We consider work-related health attributions to be separate from actual ill-health at work. developed ill-health is a general concept and takes a persons current health status and well- world into account, including such factors as problems with social functioning, sleeping problems, low self-esteem, and depression. Work-related health attributions, on the other hand, are work-focused and implicate to what extent individuals perceive that work in? ences health, and do not have to be connected to actual symptoms or health status. Work-related health attributions can, in other words, be negative in spite of a person being in comfortably health. Conversely, an individual can have symptoms of ill-health but believe that work has nothing to do with these symptoms. This discrepancy betwixt health status and work-related health attributions may be due to early signs of health problems, or a conviction that the current work situation is not bene? ial to ones health in the long run, but it is in the end based on the individuals evaluation of the situation. Figure 1 summarizes the relation surrounded by ill-health and work-related health attributions, and how they are anticipate to relate to work attitudes and turnover intentions. 1. 2. Consequences of work-related health attributions Expectancies and beliefs, of which work-related health attributions are one example, tend to affect attitudes and behaviors (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980 Holland et al. , 2002 Weiner, 1985).In addition, the encourage placed on an object of interest spiels an important part in shaping the attitudes toward that object (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980). Since health is important and highly precious by nigh individuals, we expect that individuals with negative work-related health attributions also hold more negative attitudes towards work, such as lower clientele satisfaction and organizational trueness, and higher levels of turnover intention, compared to individuals with less negative work-related health attributions.In all business kinships, it is the employer who is responsible for providing a becoming work humor, preventing health risks at work, and fashi oning efforts to keep the employees healthful (Walters, 2002). Employees expect to sting healthy at work because of grok legislation which emphasizes the employers responsibility for occupational sanctuary and health. Employers who take measures to safeguard the work surroundings show that they value their employees and care close to their public assistance, and reinforce the Figure 1. The relation between ill-health and work-related ealth attributions and their impact on work-related attitudes employees expectations of fair intervention in the employee-employer race. In response to such support from the organization, employees may develop more positive attitudes toward the bank line and increase their allegiance towards the organization (see Robinson et al. , 1994 Shore and Wayne, 1993). However, employees with negative work-related health attributions plausibly hold their employer more or less responsible and exhibit strong negative reactions toward the organization (c f.Robinson and Morrison, 2000 Shore and Tetrick, 1994). Such reactions can include feelings of anger, disappointment, or gall toward the party perceived as being responsible, which can be manifested as take down satisfaction with the problem and decreased commission to the organization. Moreover, it has been argued that employees (especially those most quali? ed) tend to leave the guild when they experience unfavorable working conditions (e. g. Hirschman, 1970 Pfeffer, 1998).The same might apply to individuals high on negative work-related health attributions those who have the resource may very well leave the organization if the employer does not take stairs to remedy the conditions perceived to be big(p) the individuals health. We suggest that work-related health attributions should be taken into account when canvass the relation between employee health and attitudes toward the organization, especially given that previous inquiry on this relation has found differing resul ts.However, the studies conducted consistently indicate that employee health may have a negative impact on phone line satisfaction, commitment and the intention to re important with the organization (see, for example, Leong et al. , 1996 Wright and Bonett, 2007). We believe that work-related health attributions make up an important part of the mechanism between employee health and its potential outcomes. 1. 3. The pledge studyThe purpose of the present study was to investigate the routine of work-related health attributions in the context of mental straiten and work-related attitudes ( stemma satisfaction and organizational commitment) and behavior (turnover intention). We propose that low employee well-being and negative work-related health attributions, respectively, are associated with lower levels of wrinkle satisfaction and organizational commitment, and higher levels of turnover intention.We also propose that work-related health attributions moderate the relation between mental melancholy and work-related outcomes, in the sense that the negative effect of ill-health on work-related attitudes is stronger among individuals who hold negative work-related health attributions than among those with more neutral work-related health attributions. Since work-related health attributions can be considered a quite an peeled empirical fabricate, we analyze its abstract relation to mental suffering in the beginning going on to testing our propositions.Research has shown that characteristics of the work environment are important in shaping attitudes such as melodic line satisfaction and organizational commitment (Fairbrother and Warn, 2001 Parker et al. , 2003), and turnover intention (Griffeth et al. , 2000 Lambert et al. , 2001). In order not to overestimate the effect of work-related health attributions on outcome variables, we control for factors describing the mode at work (job self-reliance, quantitative manipulation overload, soft function over load, workgroup tat, and job argufy), in addition to demographic characteristics (gender, age and breeding).The question model is graphically represented in Figure 2). Work-related health attributions 9 IJWHM 2,1 10 Figure 2. Research model 2. manner 2. 1. Participants and procedure Data were collected indoors the framework of a project analyse how to attract, develop and retain white-collar workers in the Swedish retail and wholesale sectors. A random sample of 1,589 individuals was drawn from the rank and file roster of the Union of Commercial compensated Employees (HTF), which is af? liated with the Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees (TCO).The HTF, which is the essence representing white-collar employees in this item sector, has a unionization rate of approximately 80 part (Kjellberg, 2001). Questionnaires were mailed to the members homes during the spring of 2002. A cover letter explained the general experience of the study and included information somewhat(predicate) compensation for confederation in the study (a gift certi? cate was raf? ed off among the respondents) and that participation was voluntary. Participants returned their questionnaires in pre-addressed, postage- compensable envelopes. Two follow-up mailings were administered to increase the response rate, one with a new questionnaire.The response rate after cardinal follow-ups was 52 percent (n ? 829). After listwise baseball swing of missing selective information, the sample comprised 785 persons. The recall age of the participants was 44 years (SD ? 11), women made up 54 percent of the sample, 14 percent had a university exam, and the average organizational elevate was 11 years (SD ? 10). 2. 2. Measures Table I presents the correlations, sloshed values, standard deviations, and reliability estimates (Cronbachs alpha) for all study variables. In general, the measures exhibited seemly reliability (alpha exceeding 0. 70), with the exception of qualitative c haracter reference overload (alpha ? . 59). 2. 2. 1. Demographics. sexual urge (1 ? woman, 0 ? man) and education (1 ? university degree, 0 ? lower education) were assessed as dichotomous variables. Age was calculated in years. 2 Mean SD Minimum level best Alpha 0. 54 0. 50 0 1 43. 57 1. 92 21 65 Gender (woman) Age 2 0. 06 Education (University) 0. 01 2 0. 04 Job self-reliance 2 0. 15 0. 13 quantifiable role overload 2 0. 08 0. 00 qualitative role overload 2 0. 09 0. 05 Work group cohesiveness 2 0. 04 0. 04 Job challenge 2 0. 17 0. 15 Negative work-related health attributions 0. 01 2 0. 10 affable agony 0. 12 2 0. 10 Job satisfaction 2 0. 03 0. 15organisational commitment 2 0. 04 0. 23 disturbance intention 2 0. 03 2 0. 20 1 0. 14 0. 35 0 1 2 0. 05 0. 00 2 0. 09 2 0. 02 2 0. 03 0. 02 2 0. 04 2 0. 08 2 0. 11 0. 08 3 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 3. 54 0. 90 1 5 0. 78 3. 44 0. 91 1 5 0. 78 2. 22 0. 78 1 5 0. 59 3. 74 0. 96 1 5 0. 84 3. 57 0. 87 1 5 0. 74 2. 52 1. 08 1 5 0. 84 9. 19 5. 56 0 32 0. 88 3. 74 0. 91 1 5 0. 88 3. 08 0. 94 1 5 0. 71 2 0. 13 2 0. 08 0. 31 0. 32 2 0. 09 2 0. 13 0. 38 0. 14 0. 13 0. 35 2 0. 40 0. 42 0. 35 2 0. 35 2 0. 20 2 0. 37 0. 28 0. 27 2 0. 34 2 0. 26 0. 56 0. 63 2 0. 09 2 0. 11 0. 47 0. 55 2 0. 52 2 0. 49 0. 48 2 0. 02 0. 03 0. 8 0. 53 2 0. 34 2 0. 32 0. 71 2 0. 39 0. 10 0. 10 2 0. 35 2 0. 35 0. 50 0. 40 2 0. 65 2 0. 56 4 no.es nary(prenominal) applicable for r . 0. 06, p , 0. 05 r . 0. 08, p , 0. 01 r . 0. 10, p , 0. 001 (n = 785) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Variable 2. 04 1. 06 1 5 0. 80 13 Work-related health attributions 11 Table I. correlations and descriptive statistics for the variables in the compend IJWHM 2,1 12 Table II. Results of con? rmatory factor analysis of work-related health attributions and mental di express 2. 2. 2. Work temper. every last(predicate) climate variables were metrical exploitation a ? ve-point Likert weighing machine (1 ? strongly disaccord 5 ? trongly agree). Job autonomy was assessed with a ? leash-item king (Sverke and Sjoberg, 1994), including items (e. g. I have enough freedom as to how I do my work) drawn from Hackman and Oldham (1975) and Walsh et al. (1980). numeric role overload was heedful exploitation a three-item scale (Beehr et al. , 1976), consisting of items such as I often have to a fault much to do in my job. Qualitative role overload was measurable with three items (e. g. I consider my responsibilities to be unreasonable Sverke et al. , 1999). Three items drawn from Nystedt (1992) were used to assess work group cohesiveness (e. g. Members stick together in my work group). Job challenge was measured with a three-item scale (e. g. Im learning new things all the season in my job) developed by Hellgren et al. (1997). 2. 2. 3. Health-related variables. We used the short version of the general Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) to measure mental scathe (Goldberg and Williams, 1988). The 12 items (e. g. Have you been feeling hard-press ed and depressed during the last both weeks? ) were scored on a scale ranging from 0 (never/ hardly ever) to 3 (always/almost always). Work-related health attributions were measured with a three-item scale developed for the present study.The items (I believe that my work affects my health in a negative way I think I can move to work as I do now and remain healthy in the long run reverse coded If I had some other job my health would probably be offend) were scored on a ? ve-point Likert scale (1 ? strongly disagree 5 ? strongly agree). The scale meter work-related health attributions demonstrated a satisfactory inseparable consistency (Cronbachs alpha ? 0. 74), and we went on to investigate whether work-related health attributions and mental distress represented two distinct pass waters. This was tried and true using con? rmatory factor analysis.Three subscales with four-spot GHQ items in every scale were constructed (see Mathieu and Farr, 1991) creating three parallel indic es. The GHQ subscales and the items measuring work-related health attributions were then subjected to the con? rmatory factor ? ? analysis procedures in Lisrel 8 (Joreskog and Sorbom, 1996). The chi-square value did not indicate a perfect(a) ? t between the two-factor model and the information (see Table II), but since the chi-square test is in the raw to sample size (Bentler and Bonett, 1980), we also relied on other indicators to determine model ? t. The familiarized goodness-of-? t index ? ? AGFI Joreskog and Sorbom, 1996), the normed ? t index (NFI Bentler and Bonett, 1980), the Akaike measure (AIC Akaike, 1987), the alike(p) root mean square ? ? residual (SRMR Joreskog and Sorbom, 1996) and the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA mug and Cudeck, 1993) indicated that the two-factor model provided an improvement in ? t as compared to a model that tested for a wizard factor. Thus, our results indicate that work-related health attributions and mental distress rep resent two distinct constructs. The factor loadings ranged from 0. 78 to 0. 81 Model df x2 RMSEA SRMR AGFI AIC NFI Ddf Dx 2 Null 1 factor factors 15 9 8 2,851. 07* 426. 74* 7. 11* 0. 49 0. 24 0. 10 0. 42 0. 09 0. 04 0. 23 0. 64 0. 92 2,863. 07 450. 74 96. 11 0. 00 0. 83 0. 97 6 1 2,424. 33* 356. 63* nary(prenominal)es * p , 0. 05 not applicable for mental distress, and from 0. 73 to 0. 76 for work-related health attributions, indicating good local ? t. The inter-factor correlation was 0. 68. 2. 2. 4. Work attitudes. All attitude variables were measured using a ? ve-point Likert scale (1 ? strongly disagree 5 ? strongly agree). Job satisfaction was assessed with a three-item measure (e. g. I am satis? ed with my job) developed by Hellgren et al. (1999) on the basis of coquette? ld and Rothe (1951). organisational commitment was measured using three items (e. g. The comp whatsoever means a lot to me personally) from Allen and Meyers (1990) scale re? ecting the affective dimensio n of commitment. Three items were used to assess turnover intention (e. g. I am actively looking for other jobs). The scale is based on items from Lyons (1971) and Cammann et al. (1979), and ? modi? ed and translated to Swedish by Sjoberg and Sverke (2000). 2. 3. Analyses Three moderated hierarchic lapses were conducted with job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intention, respectively, as drug-addicted variables.The interaction term between mental distress and work-related health attributions was formed by centering the prognosticators and calculating the harvest-tide term, following the procedure described by Cohen et al. (2003). The control variables were entered in the ? rst (demographics) and second (work climate) measurements. The main effects of mental distress and work-related health attributions were entered in the third and fourth step, respectively, bit the interaction term was entered in the ? fth and last step. 3. Results Table III contains th e results of the hierarchical septuple regression analyses.The demographic variables (gender, age, and education) explained 3 percent of the variance in job satisfaction. When the work climate variables were added in the second step, the meat amount of explained variance increased easily to 58 percent, and an additional 2 percent was explained by mental distress in the third step. In the fourth step, when negative work-related health attributions were entered, a total of 62 percent of the variance was explained (DR 2 ? 0. 02). However, the interaction term between mental distress and work-related health attributions ( stones throw 5) did not contribute signi? antly to the explained variance. The regression coef? cients from the last step showed that women and those without a university degree were more satis? ed with their job. Furthermore, autonomy, quantitative overload, work group cohesiveness, and job challenge were positively related to job satisfaction. Of most importance t o the present study was the ? nding that both mental distress and negative work-related health attributions were negatively related to job satisfaction and that they remained signi? depository financial institution predictors of job satisfaction when demographics and work climate variables were controlled for.In the next analysis, where organizational commitment was the dependent variable, the demographics explained 7 percent, the climate variables another 36 percent, and mental distress added 1 percent to the explained variance. Negative work-related health attributions added another 1 percent to the explained variance, whereas, again, the interaction effect was found to be non-signi? banking community. Taken together, the model variables explained 43 percent of the variation in organizational commitment. All three demographics evidenced signi? cant effects in the last step being a woman, beingWork-related health attributions 13 IJWHM 2,1 14 Table III. Results of hierarchical b igeminal regression analyses (standardized regression coef? cients from the last step) bloodsucking variable touchstone 1 Gender (woman) Age Education (university) DR 2 Step 2 Job autonomy valued role overload Qualitative role overload Work group cohesiveness Job challenge DR 2 Step 3 rational distress DR 2 Step 4 Negative work-related health attributions DR 2 Step 5 Mental distress* Negative work-related health ttributions DR 2 Model R 2 alter Job satisfaction organizational commitment Turnover intention 0. 2*** 0. 02 2 0. 06** 0. 03*** 0. 10** 0. 14*** 2 0. 08** 0. 07* 2 0. 13*** 2 0. 11*** 0. 07* 0. 05*** 0. 36*** 0. 05* 2 0. 01 0. 14*** 0. 31*** 0. 55*** 0. 24*** 0. 04 0. 06 0. 12*** 0. 34*** 0. 36*** 2 0. 13** 2 0. 08* 2 0. 04 2 0. 09** 2 0. 16*** 0. 24*** 2 0. 11*** 0. 02*** 2 0. 05 0. 01**** 0. 11** 0. 04*** 2 0. 20*** 0. 02*** 2 0. 12*** 0. 01*** 0. 35*** 0. 07*** 2 0. 04 0. 00 0. 63*** 2 0. 00 0. 00 0. 43*** 0. 06* 0. 00* 0. 39*** no(prenominal)es * p , 0. 05 ** p , 0 . 01 *** p , 0. 001 older, and having a lower education were all associated with higher levels of organizational commitment.All climate variables except quantitative overload were positively related to organizational commitment. Mental distress was unrelated to organizational commitment, whereas negative work-related health attributions were negatively related to the criterion. The demographic variables explained 5 percent of the variance in turnover intention in the ? rst step and the work climate variables in Step 2 added 24 percent to the variance explained. Mental distress in Step 3 added 4 percent and negative work-related health attributions another 7 percent in the next step.In the last step, when the interaction term was included, the variance explained increased by 6 units and the total model explained 39 percent. The interaction term was signi? cant individuals high in mental distress and reporting negative work-related health attributions exhibited the strongest intention s to quit whereas those with low levels of distress and less negative work-related health attributions expressed the strongest willingness to stay within the organization. This indicates that it makes a difference for the intentions to turnover if an individual with high mental distress attributes it to work or not.There were lower-ranking effects of the demographic variables, indicating that men, younger persons, and individuals with a university degree had stronger intentions to leave the organization. In addition, most work climate variables, as well as mental distress (those high in mental distress describe higher levels of turnover intentions), predicted turnover intention. The strongest standardized regression coef? cient was found for the relation between negative work-related health attributions and turnover intention. 4. Discussion disdain the increased research interest in work-related stress and health problems, little attention has been paid to whether, or to what ext ent, individuals attributions of ill-health due to work ( do negative work-related health attributions) affects attitudes towards work and the organization. Those few studies that have investigated this phenomenon (see for example Ettner and Grzywacz, 2001) have not canvas how these work-related health attributions contribute to the understanding of job satisfaction, organizational commitment and turnover intention.The present study indicates not solo that the construct of negative work-related health attributions is distinct from inalienable mental distress, but also that it has important implications for employee attitudes and behavioural intentions. Our results show that employees who reported negative work-related health attributions also expressed less satisfaction with their job, less commitment to the organization, and stronger intentions to leave the organization even after demographics, mental distress, and factors related to the work climate were controlled for.We pro posed that there would be an interaction effect between mental distress and work-related health attributions on attitudes and turnover intention, such that the relation between mental distress and the outcome variables would be stronger for those with more negative work-related health attributions than for those not attributing their mental distress to their job. This proposition received partial support. While work-related health attributions failed to moderate the effects of mental distress on job satisfaction and organizational commitment, the interaction term was signi? ant for turnover intentions. This indicates that individuals with negative work-related health attributions and mental distress were more prone to leave the organization compared to individuals with the same level of mental distress but positive work-related health attributions. Hence, whether the individual attributes ill-health to work or not appears to be important for the effect of health status on outcomes, at least in the case of the intention to leave the organization.This result indicates that the concept of negative work-related health attributions may play an important role in explaining employees work-related behavioral intentions, and should be taken into account when the relation between health and outcomes is investigated. Another guiding light ? nding is that work-related health attributions were more important than mental distress for the prediction of work attitudes and onanism method cognitions. In crease to mental distress, which plainly predicted job satisfaction and turnover intentions, work-related health attributions predicted all three outcomes.That mental distress only appears to contribute to a particular(a) extent is contrary to previous arguments that health status is important for employee work motivation and behavioral orientations (e. g. Hom, 2002). One explanation for our ? ndings may have to do with the fact that work-related health attributions concer n perceived health risks that are associated with the overall work situation, whereas measures of ill-health, such as mental distress, may concern any aspect of an individuals life, not only factors related to the job. As long as the individual does not hold negative work-related healthWork-related health attributions 15 IJWHM 2,1 16 attributions, it is conceivable that subjective health and well-being are only marginally prognostic of attitudes towards work. Negative work-related health attributions may thereof be a better predictor of work-related attitudes and behaviors, and should be included in future research on work-related outcomes. The construct of work-related health attributions can thus have great practical utility, since it in a alternatively simple and direct way captures how individuals perceive that their work affects their health.This is also in agreement with Harter et al. (2003), who suggest that researchers have conceived employee well-being similarly broadly and often in a way which is not intuitively unjust for managers and employees. It is also important to note that negative work-related health attributions predicted work attitudes and turnover intention after controlling not only for mental distress and demographics, but also for characteristics of the psychological work climate.Our info from Swedish white-collar workers showed that, consistent with meta-analysis ? ndings (Parker et al. , 2003), job autonomy, role overload, work group cohesiveness, and job challenge were associated with lower levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The present study also goes beyond previous research by suggesting that the apparent effects of work climate variables remained after subjective well-being and work-related health attributions had been taken into account.The fact that negative work-related health attributions emerged as one of the strongest predictors of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover inten tion understandably indicates that models for the predicting of employee attitudes and behavior could be improved by the inclusion of work-related health attributions. The results from the present study and previous research (see for example ? European Foundation, 2001 Ettner and Grzywacz, 2001 Goransson et al. , 2002) indicate that attributions of work-related ill-health can be understood in price of psychological compact theory (e. . Rousseau, 1989). well-nigh employees expect that their employers will strive to provide a healthy employment, and such an assumption is typically sustained by working class law regulations and collective bargaining agreements. If employees experience a work situation which they make as likely to bring about ill-health, it will be in contrast to their expectations, and thus most likely be perceived as a disruption of the psychological engagement with the employer (see Robinson and Morrison, 2000).Perceptions of a separate of the psychological capture are likely to result in negative work-related attitudes and withdrawal behaviors (Davy et al. , 1997 Turnley and Feldman, 1999). The ? nding that negative work-related health attributions were associated with impaired job satisfaction, lower organizational commitment, and stronger turnover intention may be interpreted as the result of a perceived break of serve of the psychological get down. However, while psychological contract breach was not the main focus in the present study, future research may bene? from explicitly including this concept in the explanatory framework. 4. 1. Limitations and future research Although the results of the present study point to the relevance of the concept of work-related health attributions, our conclusions may be affected by a number of methodological issues. For instance, we utilized data from a single point in time, thus prohibiting the study of temporal order between negative work-related health attributions and its postulated consequ ences. However, cross-sectional research is a necessary ? rst step to empirically search theoretical hypotheses before investments in ongitudinal data are fruitful (Spector, 1994), and two events moldiness be found to co-vary with one another before the causative link can be explored. Furthermore, our results were based on Swedish white-collar employees in a particular service industry, and a replication of the present study using longitudinal data as well as data from different industrial sectors in different countries would be necessary before any ? rm conclusions concerning the generality of the ? ndings can be drawn. All variables were assessed using questionnaires, thus potentially making the results susceptible to mono-method bias (Campbell and Fiske, 1959).Even though meta-analytic research suggests that method variance represents less of a problem than has been assumed in the ago (Crampton and Wagner, 1994), the use of other types of data, such as interviews or diaries, w ould contribute to a better understanding of the role played by work-related health attributions. In addition, while we controlled for a number of factors known to be related to job satisfaction (Loher et al. , 1985), organizational commitment (Mathieu and Zajac, 1990), and turnover intention (Griffeth et al. 2000), it would be relevant to take additional control variables, such as personality characteristics, into account in order not to over-estimate the effects of work-related health attributions. Finally, only three potential outcomes of negative work-related health attributions were considered. Despite the consistent associations found between negative work-related health attributions and employee attitudes and turnover intention, it might be that negative work-related health attributions are less predictive of other factors, such as job performance, safety behavior, and more importantly, occupational injuries and sick-leave. . 2. Concluding remarks Despite these potential limi tations, the results of the present study clearly suggest that the investigation of employees negative work-related health attributions is an important avenue for future research on work and well-being. The results suggest not only that individuals evaluate how work may affect their health and well-being, but also that such perceptions may have important implications for their attitudinal and behavioral orientations toward work.The measure of negative work-related health attributions could be used as a diagnostic instrument for identifying those individuals who are more likely than others to perceive health-threatening conditions at work. The construct can be useful for employers in order to identify and help employees who experience threats to their health due to their jobs. Given that designer imbalances may inhibit the direct discourse of interests with an employer (Rousseau, 2001), such that more vulnerable individuals, for instance temporary employees, are less likely to shar e ? nformation on health risks at work (Aronsson and Goransson, 1998), the collection of information regarding work-related health attributions could be one means for employees to declare this important information with their employer. Work-related health attributions may also constitute a more direct way of assessing the effect of work on health, and may therefore be more useful as a complement to research which gathers information on aspects of the work situation in order to predict health.An important area for future research is how individuals may take these work-related health attributions into account when making decisions regarding their Work-related health attributions 17 IJWHM 2,1 18 work situation, such as changing work tasks, work setting, or even occupation. 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