Losing sleep over organizational injustice: attenuating insomniac reactions to underpayment inequity with supervisory training in interactional justice

Abstract

Self-reports of insomnia were collected among 467 nurses working at 4 hospitals. At 2 of these hospitals, a change in pay policy resulted in reduced pay for all nurses, whereas nurses' pay was unchanged at the other 2 hospitals. Nursing supervisors at 1 hospital in each group received training in promoting interactional justice, whereas no training was provided at the other 2 hospitals. Reflecting the stressful nature of underpayment, insomnia was significantly greater among nurses whose pay was reduced than among those whose pay remained unchanged. However, the degree of insomnia was significantly lower among nurses whose supervisors were trained in interactional justice, both immediately after training and 6 months later. These findings demonstrate the buffering effects of interactionally fair treatment on reactions to underpayment.