The Influence of Employment Quality on Employee Health Complaints: A Parallel Mediation Model

Employment quality is a social determinant of employee health. However, little is known about the psychological mechanisms underlying this relationship. In this study, we investigated whether work engagement and affective job insecurity mediated the relationship between three employment quality indicators: type of contract (0. temporary vs. 1. permanent), employment relationship (0. part-time vs. 1. full-time), and salary, on the one hand, and employee health complaints, on the other. We implemented a time-lagged design with three time points. Our sample was composed of 247 employees. The data analysis using Structural Equation Modelling methods showed statistically significant negative indirect effects of the job contract type and salary on employee health complaints via the two mediators investigated in the case of salary and via affective job insecurity in the case of job contract type. Our study contributes to understanding why some employment quality indicators are related to employee health complaints. It also highlights that promoting high quality employment arrangements is not only a way to create engaging and secure jobs, but also an avenue leading towards employees’ health.