Employment insecurity, workplace justice and employees' burnout in Taiwanese employees: a validation study

Employment insecurity and workplace injustice are important psychosocial hazards. However, few studies of these associations have been conducted in Chinese-speaking populations.

This study evaluated the psychometric properties of a Chinese version of employment insecurity and workplace justice scales, and examined their associations with the levels of workers' burnout status in Taiwanese workers.

Study subjects were participants in a national survey of employees in Taiwan, consisting of 9,636 men and 7,406 women. A self-administered questionnaire was used to assess employment insecurity (six items) and workplace justice (nine items), as well as other psychosocial work characteristics. After the survey was completed, in-depth interviews with 10 employees were conducted for a qualitative evaluation.

Cronbach's α was 0.87 or greater for the workplace justice scale and 0.76 or greater for the employment insecurity scale, indicating satisfactory internal consistencies. Exploratory factor analyses revealed a factor pattern consistent with the theoretically assumed structure, except that the items with statements in reversed direction were loaded on separated factors. Higher levels of employment insecurity and lower levels of workplace justice were associated with higher burnout scores. However, results from the qualitative interviews suggested that some questionnaire items contained double-barreled questions, and some questions were misinterpreted or considered irrelevant by participants.

The Chinese version of employment insecurity and workplace justice scales were found to have satisfactory reliability and validity. However, improvement of these scales is still needed.