Healthy universities: Exploring the relationship between psychosocial needs and work-related health among university employees

Figures & data

Table 1. Demographic characteristics and employment conditions for the three different employee groups.

	Faculty (n = 4562)		PhD students (n = 1452)		Admin/technical (n = 5519)
	n	%	n	%	n	%
Gender
Women	2047	44.9	772	53.2	3443	62.4
Men	2514	55.1	680	46.8	2076	37.6
Age category
←29 years	103	2.3	656	45.6	415	7.6
30–39 years	891	19.8	567	39.4	1309	23.9
40–49 years	1249	27.8	176	12.2	1645	30.1
50–59 years	1267	28.2	36	2.5	1348	24.6
60 years →	982	21.9	3	.2	752	13.8
Terms of employment
Permanent employee	3463	77.0	140	9.7	4846	89.8
Temporary employee	1032	23.0	1299	90.3	552	10.2
Position
1–50%	217	4.8	4	.3	60	1.1
51–99%	523	11.5	114	7.9	745	13.5
Full time (100%)	3820	83.8	1334	91.9	4714	85.4

n: frequency; %: valid percent.

Figure 1. Structural model with standardized parameter estimates. Note: ***p < 0.001; *p < 0.05. Dotted line indicates non-significant relationship. N = 10,096.

Table 2. Means, standard deviation (SD), average variance extracted (AVE), and squared correlations of latent variables (SC).

Variable	Mean	SD	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
1. Autonomy	3.84	.64	–
2. Meaning	4.01	.68	0.38	–
3. Work engagement	4.58	1.05	0.21	0.63	–
4. Recognition	3.79	.85	0.44	0.27	0.16	–
5. Social community	3.97	.77	0.31	0.25	0.16	0.42	–
6. Task completion clarity	3.58	.79	0.28	0.06	0.04	0.04	0.26	–
7. Trust in management	3.71	.91	0.35	0.19	0.13	0.87	0.36	0.29	–
AVE	–	–	0.49	0.62	0.59	0.73	0.64	0.64	0.80
CR	–	–	0.78	0.83	0.93	0.89	0.84	0.78	0.95

AVE: average variance extracted; CR: composite reliability.

Note: N = 10,096.

Table 3. Means and standard deviation (SD) for latent variables for all groups, by gender and employee group.

	Female		Male		Academic		PhD students		Technical/administrative
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
Autonomy	3.81	.64	3.89	.64	3.86	.65	4.03	.58	3.77	.63
Meaning	4.01	.67	4.01	.68	4.12	.63	4.00	.75	3.92	.68
Work engagement	4.60	1.05	4.56	1.05	4.72	.94	4.55	1.02	4.47	1.12
Recognition	3.76	.85	3.82	.85	3.74	.90	3.81	.74	3.83	.84
Social community	4.00	.76	3.94	.77	3.87	.80	3.93	.75	4.06	.73
Task completion clarity	3.57	.81	3.61	.77	3.67	.76	3.49	.81	3.54	.81
Trust in management	3.68	.92	3.76	.91	3.64	.97	3.82	.79	3.74	.90

Note: N = 10,096.

Table 4. Gender and employee group differences in the mean level of the psychological needs (MG-CFA).

Group	Autonomy	Meaning	Work engagement	Recognition	Social community	Task completion clarity	Trust in unit management
Gender
Female^R	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Male	0.09***	0.01	−0.01	0.06***	−0.04**	0.04*	0.07***
Employee group
Faculty^R	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
PhD	0.20***	−0.11***	−0.13***	0.08**	0.08***	−0.17***	0.18***
Techn/admin	−0.10***	−0.20***	−0.19***	0.08***	0.18***	−0.12***	0.10***

Note: Stars refer to significant group differences as indicated by Wald-test for group invariance. ^RReference group. ***p < 0.001; **p < 0.01; *p < 0.05. N = 10,153 and N = 10,154 for gender and employee group models, respectively.

Table 5. Path coefficients of the multi-group structural equation model (MG-SEM), by gender and employee group.

	Gender		Employee group
	Female B (95% CI)	Male B (95% CI)	Faculty B (95% CI)	PhD student B (95% CI)	Admin/Technical B (95% CI)
Positive work related health
Autonomy	0.19*** (0.10, 0.27)	−0.06 (−0.15, 0.03)	0.15** (0.06, 0.25)	−0.03 (−0.21, 0.15)	0.13* (0.03, 0.23)
Meaning	0.16*** (0.07, 0.26)	0.32*** (0.21, 0.43)	0.26*** (0.14, 0.38)	0.24* (0.05, 0.43)	0.23*** (0.12, 0.34)
Work engagement	0.30*** (0.24, 0.36)	0.19*** (0.13, 0.26)	0.21*** (0.15, 0.27)	0.31*** (0.17, 0.45)	0.26*** (0.21, 0.32)
Recognition	0.10 (−0.03, 0.23)	0.11 (−0.04, 0.26)	0.10 (−0.05, 0.24)	0.32 (−0.15, 0.80)	0.00 (−0.14, 0.14)
Social community	0.18*** (0.13, 0.23)	0.20*** (0.14, 0.26)	0.19*** (0.13, 0.26)	0.03 (−0.10, 0.17)	0.16*** (0.11, 0.22)
Task completion	−0.06*** (−0.10, −0.02)	0.05 (−0.00, 0.10)	−0.04 (−0.10, 0.02)	0.02 (−0.08, 0.12)	−0.03 (−0.08, 0.02)
Trust in management	0.06 (−0.05, 0.16)	0.10 (−0.02, 0.22)	0.03 (0.05, 0.27)	−0.04 (−0.43, 0.34)	0.16** (0.51, 0.27)
Negative work related health
Autonomy	−0.27*** (−0.36, −0.18)	−0.08 (−0.18, −0.02)	−0.30*** (−0.40, −0.19)	−0.12 (−0.32, 0.09)	−0.24*** (−0.36, −0.23)
Meaning	−0.07 (−0.17, 0.04)	0.11 (−0.24, 0.01)	−0.14* (−0.32, 0.09)	−0.06 (−0.28, 0.15)	−0.06 (−0.18, 0.07)
Work engagement	−0.26*** (−0.32, −0.20)	−0.21*** (−0.28, −0.14)	−0.19*** (−0.26, −0.12)	−0.38*** (−0.54, −0.23)	−0.24*** (−0.30, −0.17)
Recognition	−0.04 (−0.19, 0.10)	−0.22* (−0.40, −0.05)	−0.09 (−0.26, 0.07)	−0.65* (−1.20, −0.11)	0.01 (−0.15, 0.17)
Social community	−0.23*** (−0.29, −0.17)	−0.24*** (−0.32, −0.17)	−0.21*** (−0.29, −0.13)	−0.02 (−0.18, 0.13)	−0.22*** (−0.28, −0.16)
Task completion	0.06* (0.01, 0.11)	−0.08** (−0.14, −0.03)	0.21 (−0.04, 0.09)	−0.23 (−0.14, 0.09)	0.01 (−0.04, 0.07)
Trust in management	−0.14* (−0.25, −0.02)	−0.02 (−0.16,0.11)	−0.05 (−0.18, 0.08)	0.29 (−0.15, 0.74)	−0.21** (−0.34, −0.09)
Observations	5446	4650	3972	1267	4858

Note: ***p < 0.001; **p < 0.01; *p < 0.05.

Bold text indicates significant group differences as indicated by Wald-test for group invariance (p < 0.05).