Aim: To test the effort-reward imbalance model among older nurses, expanding it to include the moderation of overcommitment and age in the stress-health complaints relationship, mediated by organisational injustice.
Background: The theoretical framework included the effort-reward imbalance, the uncertainty management and the socio-emotional selectivity models.
Method: Employing a two-wave design, the participants were 255 nurses aged 45 years and over, recruited from four large hospitals in Spain (Madrid and Basque Country).
Results: The direct effect of imbalance on health complaints was supported: it was significant when overcommitment was low but not when it was high. Organisational injustice mediated the influence of effort-reward imbalance on health complaints. The conditional effect of the mediation of organisational injustice was significant in three of the overcommitment/age conditions but it weakened, becoming non-significant, when the level of overcommitment was low and age was high.
Conclusions: The study tested the model in nursing populations and expanded it to the settings of occupational health and safety at work.
Implications for nursing management: The results of this study highlight the importance of effort-reward imbalance and organisational justice for creating healthy work environments.
Keywords: effort-reward imbalance; health complaints; nursing; occupational health; organisational injustice.
© 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.