THE EFFECTS OF INDIVIDUAL INSTITUTIONAL LEGITIMACY JUDGEMENTS AND EMPLOYEE PSYCHOLOGICAL WELLBEING ON THE ORGANIZATIONAL OUTCOMES SICKNESS ABSENCE AND PRESENTEEISM

Abstract

The processes of institutionalization and legitimization have predominantly been studied at the socio-political macro level. At the micro level, individual institutional legitimacy judgements (IILJ) have been theorized to study employee’s perceptions and judgements of institutional changes and to have important psychosocial consequences for both individuals and organizations (Bitektine, 2011; Tost, 2011). The purpose of this study is to learn the relationships and effects among the concepts of individual institutional legitimacy judgements, employee psychological wellbeing (PWB), and the organizational outcomes sickness absence and presenteeism. The context of the study is a Post-Secondary Educational Institution (PSEI) in BC, Canada. A quantitative correlational design was conducted and data analysis was completed using statistical exploratory factor analysis (EFA), multiple regression, and Spearman’s Rho coefficient analysis. The IILJ scale (IILJS) was used to study the impact of individual institutional legitimacy judgements on the organizational outcomes sickness absence (SA) and presenteeism. PWB, as an important dimension of wellbeing and theorized to be a predictor of organizational outcomes (Page & Vella-Brodrick, 2009), was introduced to study its effect on the outcomes SA and presenteeism. Multiple regression was conducted on two models. One model studied the relationship between the two predictor variables- IILJs and employee PWB- and the two outcome variables. A second model studied the moderating effect of employee PWB on the relationship between IILJs and employee SA and presenteeism. The regression results showed a significant negative relationship with presenteeism. The interaction effect of IILJ and PWB did not contribute much to the variance in the presenteeism value from model 1. The results for SA were not significant. No instrument currently exists to study IILJ and one contribution of this study is to present a scale with established content validity and internal construct validity to measure this concept. The results of the EFA on the IILJS showed high correlations to the subscale factors: relational, instrumental, and moral. Using oblimin rotation the internal construct validity for the IILJS was parsimonious. The reliability statistics for the IILJS were good (Field, 2009). The IILJS shows promise as a valid and reliable instrument to measure the effects of organizational and institutional changes at the micro level. The results of this study can be used to establish external construct validity of the IILJS and learn how employees’ institutional legitimacy judgements relate to other organizational outcomes within different or similar contexts.