HEALTH BENEFIT SATISFACTION IN THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS - THE ROLE OF DISTRIBUTIVE AND PROCEDURAL JUSTICE

One of the most compelling problems outstanding in the field of employ ee benefits today is trying to control spiraling health care expenditu res. 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 purpo se of this study was to identify how distributive and procedural justi ce apply to health benefit satisfaction in two different working popul ations. The study was conducted using public and private sector employ ees for comparison purposes. MANOVAs and univariate analysis were used to determine whether any significant differences were revealed betwee n the two employee groups. Multiple regression was used to evaluate th e relative contribution of each factor to benefit satisfaction. The re sults of the analyses revealed that public sector employees experience d significantly greater benefit satisfaction, normative commitment to the organization, distributive justice, and greater quality and conven ience of health care. In both groups, distributive justice (equity per ceptions) accounted for the greatest amount of variance in benefit sat isfaction, along with affective commitment. In addition, procedural ju stice accounted for 7% of the variance in private sector benefit satis faction. Implications for practicing managers are discussed.