INTRODUCTION: Promoting wellbeing at work is essential for healthy societies. Whereas both perceived job quality and fairness at work have been linked to well-being, it has been ignored that fairness can be a key determinant of perceptions of job quality. In addition, previous research has focused on hedonic and cognitive well-being, ignoring the eudaimonic aspect (e.g. personal growth at work). These are important gaps that we aim to fill in the present study.
PURPOSE: This study examines whether perceived job quality mediates the relationship between perceived fairness at work and the three dimensions of subjective well-being at work: hedonic (i.e. positive affect at work), cognitive (i.e. job satisfaction), and eudaimonic (i.e. personal growth at work).
METHOD: Data were collected from a sample of heterogeneous Spanish employees across three time points. The final sample consisted of 244 participants, comprising 52% men with an average age of 35 years and 48% women with an average age of 36 years. The research model was tested by structural equation modeling by means of Jamovi (an R based software). Indirect effects were tested by means of Bootstrap.
RESULTS: After controlling relevant job characteristics traditionally linked with high quality jobs (variety, autonomy, etc.), perceived fairness was related to perceived job quality, which partially mediates its relationship with hedonic and cognitive well-being. Contrary to expectations, fairness was not related to eudaemonic well-being.
CONCLUSIONS: Fairness is an important driver of perceptions of job quality, which, in turn, contribute to promoting important aspects of wellbeing at work. This result can help design interventions to promote wellbeing through fair treatment interventions.