Health Benefit Satisfaction in the Public and Private Sectors: The Role of Distributive and Procedural Justice

Abstract

One of the most compelling problems outstanding in the field of employee benefits today is trying to control spiraling health care expenditures. Furthermore, as a result of the cost containment strategies being used in health plans in the recent years, health benefit satisfaction has become an important variable for employers to consider. The purpose of this study was to identify how distributive and procedural justice apply to health benefit satisfaction in two different working populations. The study was conducted using public and private sector employees for comparison purposes. MANOVAs and univariate analysis were used to determine whether any significant differences were revealed between the two employee groups. Multiple regression was used to evaluate the relative contribution of each factor to benefit satisfaction. The results of the analyses revealed that public sector employees experienced significantly greater benefit satisfaction, normative commitment to the organization, distributive justice, and greater quality and convenience of health care. In both groups, distributive justice (equity perceptions) accounted for the greatest amount of variance in benefit satisfaction, along with affective commitment. In addition, procedural justice accounted for 7% of the variance in private sector benefit satisfaction. Implications for practicing managers are discussed.