Jan Fekke Ybema

• PhD
• Professor (Assistant) at Utrecht University

Are certain characteristics of dispute resolution procedures associated with higher levels of procedural justice? We address this question through a quantitative analysis of real-world experiences of 194 professional legal representatives with the objection procedures of 81 Dutch administrative authorities. In our analysis, two general procedural c...

The current paper aims to provide insight into judges’ perceptions of how fairly they treat litigants and how important case outcomes are to litigants, and whether these perceptions relate to litigants' perceptions of procedural justice and outcome importance. Respondents were litigants involved in bankruptcy, landlord-tenant, and administrative la...

Objective: Hand washing has been at the core of recommendations and guidelines that aim to curb infectious diseases in general, and COVID-19 in particular. As hand washing comes down to an individual's behaviour, we aimed to study how individual psychological variables influence hand washing over time during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design: Over t...

The aim of the current quasi-experimental field study was to investigate the immediate and 3-month follow-up effects of the resilience-building program ResilienceWise, using a 2 (group) 3 3 (time) mixed design. This blended program consisted of an individual assessment, four one-on-one sessions, and two modules in the online, selfhelp, psychologica...

People repeatedly encounter response conflicts (i.e., self-control dilemmas between long-term and short-term goals). A longitudinal study was conducted to investigate how resolution of response conflict develops over time. Participants pursued a long-term goal. The design entailed pre- and post-measurements, as well as daily/weekly measures using a...

When striving for long-term goals (e.g., healthy eating, saving money, reducing energy consumption, or maintaining interpersonal relationships), people often get in conflict with their short-term goals (e.g., enjoying tempting snacks, purchasing must-haves, getting warm, or watching YouTube video’s). Previous research suggests that people who are s...

The present study is designed to test the effectiveness of two positive psychological micro-interventions (“use your resources” and “count your blessings”) aimed at improving the combination of work and family roles. Based on the Transactional Model of Stress (TMS), the Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory and the Work-Home Resources (WH-R) Model...

The number of workers with a chronic disease is steadily growing in industrialized countries. To cope with and to give meaning to their illness, patients construct illness narratives, which are widely shared across patient societies, personal networks and the media. This study investigates the influence of these shared illness narratives on patient...

Self-control is considered a crucial capacity that helps people to achieve important objectives in the face of temptation. However, it is unknown to what extent self-control is a stable disposition that is unaffected by how often people engage in self-control, or more like a skill that develops and grows over time. In the present study, we employed...

Purpose With an ageing workforce, employees are increasingly confronted with multi-morbidity. Especially physical and mental health problems often occur together. This study aims to (i) explore the effect of multi-morbidity on work ability of ageing employees, more specifically the effects of the number of health problems and the combination of phy...

This study examined the work outcomes of 81 individuals with a physical, cognitive, or psychological disability who worked at a sheltered workshop and filled out a total of 309 weekly questionnaires on 4 or 5 consecutive weeks. In line with the job demands–resources model, multilevel analyses showed that exhaustion was higher as participants experi...

With the aging of the workforce, organizations need to maintain or improve the sustainable employability of their workforce throughout their working life. This raises the question which HR practices increase workers’ sustainable employability at work. The aim of this study is to investigate the extent to which organizations implement HR practices f...

Past research has frequently cast doubts on the theoretical and empirical distinction between the concepts of work engagement and burnout. Drawing on cross-sectional survey data from 1,535 Dutch police officers, the current study examined (a) the associations among the two core dimensions of burnout (i.e. exhaustion and cynicism) and work engagemen...

Contemporary technologies enable students to be “connected” with friends, family, student peers, and their study materials 24/7. This study aimed to examine how college students’ boundary management enactment (BME; ranging from segmentation to integration) related to school-to-home conflict and home-to-school conflict and, subsequently, to school p...

Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess whether organizational justice lowers productivity loss and sickness absence, and whether there are reverse effects of productivity loss and sickness absence on organizational justice. Method: A longitudinal study with 2 years of follow-up was conducted among employed persons aged 45-64 years from the...

Purpose To longitudinally investigate (1) whether lower work ability and work engagement predict the use of company policies on reduced working hours and exemption from evening/night work among older workers, and (2) whether using such policies subsequently contribute to higher work ability and work engagement. Methods In total 6922 employees (45-6...

With an ageing society and increasing retirement ages, it is important to understand how employability can be promoted in older workers with health problems. The current study aimed to determine whether (1) different chronic health problems predict transitions from paid employment to disability benefits, unemployment and early retirement, and (2) h...

Objectives: Determinants in the domains health, job characteristics, skills, and social and financial factors may influence early retirement through three central explanatory variables, namely, the ability, motivation, and opportunity to work. Based on the literature, we created the Early Retirement Model. This study aims to investigate whether da...

Objectives: This study aimed to assess the influence of chronic health problems on work ability and productivity at work among older employees using different methodological approaches in the analysis of longitudinal studies. Methods: Data from employees, aged 45-64, of the longitudinal Study on Transitions in Employment, Ability and Motivation...

Purpose: The goals of this study were to determine whether, among older employees, unfavourable physical and psychosocial work-related factors were associated with poorer mental and physical health and whether high work engagement buffered the associations between unfavourable work-related factors and poorer health. Methods: A 1-year longitudina...

Work values of low-skilled older workers Work values of low-skilled older workers Recently, the Dutch government raised the retirement age of workers in the Netherlands. In this study we focused on the work values of low-skilled older workers, the extent to which their jobs fulfill these values, and the effect of work values on the willingness of t...

Recently, the Dutch government raised the retirement age of workers in the Netherlands. In this study we focused on the work values of low-skilled older workers, the extent to which their jobs fulfill these values, and the effect of work values on the willingness of these workers to extend their working life. This study is based on a literature rev...

'Serving with a smile' has generally been associated with negative effects for employee well-being. The present study investigated whether emotional display rules also relate to positive outcomes by distinguishing demands to suppress negative emotional response (negative display rules) from demands to express positive emotions (positive display rul...

Purpose – This paper aims to provide an empirical test of theories proposed in the literature stating that turnover and retirement (two kinds of work withdrawal) involve different employee decisions. It also aims to provide a more general theoretical framework understanding turnover and retirement intentions integrating insights from different theo...

This study aimed to investigate the relative contribution of health, job characteristics, skills and knowledge, and social and financial factors to the transition from work to (non-disability) early retirement. Employees aged 59-63 years (N=2317) were selected from the Study on Transitions in Employment, Ability and Motivation in the Netherlands (S...

This study examines whether mental and physical health relate differently to work ability and whether these associations vary with coping style. A 1-year longitudinal study was conducted among 8842 employees aged 45 to 64 years from the Study on Transitions in Employment, Ability and Motivation. On-line questionnaires measured self-perceived mental...

Background Due to the aging of the population and subsequent higher pressure on public finances, there is a need for employees in many European countries to extend their working lives. One way in which this can be achieved is by employees refraining from retiring early. Factors predicting early retirement have been identified in quantitative resear...

Background Due to the aeging of the population, there is a societal need for workers to prolong their working lives. In the Netherlands, many employees still leave the workforce before the official retirement age of 65. Previous quantitative research showed that poor self-perceived health is a risk factor of (non-disability) early retirement. Howev...

Objectives: The aim of this study was to (i) assess how common chronic health problems and work-related factors predict sickness absence and (ii) explore whether work-related factors modify the effects of health problems on sickness absence. Methods: A one-year longitudinal study was conducted among employed persons aged 45-64 years from the Stu...

Job to job mobility among lower educated older workers Job to job mobility among lower educated older workers Work life extension is a challenge for lower educated workers aged 45-64. Job-to-job-mobility may be a useful, even necessary, strategy. Among lower educated 45-64 year old workers, however, voluntary job-to-job-mobility is rare. In this ar...

Purpose: The goal of this qualitative study was to gain insight into how older employees remain productive at work in spite of health problems. Methods: Twenty-six semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with older employees, 46-63 years of age, who reported a poor health in the Study on Transitions in Employment, Ability, and Motiva...

To identify predictors of the willingness and ability of older workers to continue working until the age of 65. In this longitudinal study, 4937 employees aged 45 to 63 years included in the Netherlands Working Conditions Cohort Study were studied. Logistic regression analyses were applied. Employees who experienced emotional exhaustion and bullyin...

Vergelijking van de arbeidsomstandigheden en inzetbaarheid van zzp’ers en werknemers 2012

Continuing work or retiring? An introduction to theory and practice of retirement in the Netherlands Continuing work or retiring? An introduction to theory and practice of retirement in the Netherlands The topic of this special issue on retiring or continuing work among older employees is introduced. In addition to an overview of relevant Dutch ret...

Terms of employment and the preferred retirement age Terms of employment and the preferred retirement age The present study examines how the satisfaction with the terms of employment among older employees affects the preferred retirement age. Two waves of data collection (2008 and 2009) of the cohort-study of the Netherlands Working Conditions Surv...

It has often been suggested that high levels of overtime lead to adverse health outcomes. One mechanism that may account for this association is that working overtime leads to elevated levels of stress, which could affect worker's behavioral decisions or habits (such as smoking and lack of physical activity). In turn, this could lead to adverse hea...

The present study examines how the satisfaction with the terms of employment among older employees affects the preferred retirement age. Two waves of data collection (2008 and 2009) of the cohort-study of the Netherlands Working Conditions Survey (NWCS) were used for this study. The results of this longitudinal study showed that satisfaction with t...

The topic of this special issue on retiring or continuing work among older employees is introduced. In addition to an overview of relevant Dutch retirement legislation and statistics on retirement in the Netherlands, we pay attention to the operationalisation of retirement and highlight important psychological perspectives and theories on the topic...

The present study examines the effects of health policy in organizations as perceived by employees on their job satisfaction, burnout, and sickness absence. The data were collected with Internet questionnaires in a longitudinal three-wave design among a heterogeneous sample of 1004 employees. The study shows that a stronger focus on health in the o...

Objectives Despite the current debate on early retirement, relatively few longitudinal studies investigated determinants of (non-disability) early retirement. The aim of the present study was to identify (changes in) risk factors that predict early retirement. Methods Data of the Netherlands Working Conditions Cohort Study were used. Employees age...

Determinants of registered long-term sickness absence; differences between a prospective and a retrospective design Determinants of registered long-term sickness absence; differences between a prospective and a retrospective design. This study examines the differences in the determinants of registered long-term sickness absence when using prospecti...

In de discussie over langer doorwerken is het van groot belang om te weten hoe werknemers daar zelf tegen aankijken. Willen oudere werknemers wel langer doorwerken dan tot nu toe gebruikelijk is? Geen werkgever zit immers te wachten op ongemotiveerde werknemers die de tijd tot hun pensioen uitzitten. Omdat slechts een klein deel van de oudere werkn...

The current study investigated the moderating roles of age and trust in the relation of procedural justice with turnover. It was expected that the relation between procedural justice and turnover was weaker for older workers and those with high prior trust in their leader. Older workers are better at regulating their emotions, and focus more on pos...

In een longitudinaal onderzoek met drie jaarlijkse metingen onder 1597 werknemers zijn de effecten onderzocht van de aandacht voor arbeid door de huisarts en bedrijfsarts op de tevredenheid met de zorgverlening en op het ziekteverzuim van werknemers. Hierbij is onderscheid gemaakt tussen aandacht voor arbeid als oorzaak van de klachten en aandacht...

Effects of companies' active lifestyle policies Effects of companies' active lifestyle policies In this article we analyse the effects of an employers' active lifestyle policies and an employees' lifestyle, job satisfaction and self-indicated physical condition. By an employers' active lifestyle policies we mean the number of different lifestyle me...

This study examined the interrelations between registered employee absenteeism, job satisfaction, and burnout in a longitudinal design with four yearly waves of data. The participants were 844 workers in 34 companies in The Netherlands. In line with the predictions, a reciprocal relationship between job satisfaction and absence frequency was found....

A longitudinal three-wave study among a large representative sample of 1519 employees of various companies in The Netherlands examined how organizational justice (as measured by distributive and procedural justice) was related to depressive symptoms and sickness absence. It was predicted that perceived justice would contribute to lower depressive s...

How health policy influences the dedication of employees How health policy influences the dedication of employees J.F. Ybema & M. Bakhuys Roozeboom, Gedrag & Organisatie, volume 22, November 2009, nr. 4, pp. 354-370. A longitudinal study with three yearly waves of data collection among 1.013 employees was used to examine whether employers' health p...

Return to work of long-term absent employees: the view of Dutch employers on the amount own initiative of these employees Return to work of long-term absent employees: the view of Dutch employers on the amount own initiative of these employees T. van Vuuren & J.F. Ybema, Gedrag & Organisatie, volume 22, November 2009, nr. 4, pp. 371-391. Employees...

Employees who are absent for a prolonged period of time are expected to actively contribute to their own return to work. The present study examines how employers rate the employees' own initiative for return to work following longterm sickness absence and how this initiative affects successful return to work. In this study, a sample of 1294 employe...

To determine the effect of health on working conditions and outcomes. Data were collected in the longitudinal Study on Health at Work (n = 1597 employees), using multiple regression analyses and focusing on three groups of employees: 1) healthy, 2) chronic health complaints without a work handicap, and 3) chronic health complaints with a work handi...

The aim of this study was to enhance (i) insight in the relationship between different types of employment contract and the quality of working life, health and well-being, and (ii) our causal understanding of these relationships by comparing employees whose contract type changes across time. Analyses were based on a two-year prospective cohort stud...

Samenvatting Dit artikel beschrijft de ontwikkeling van referentiegegevens voor de verzuimduur naar diagnose. Daarbij worden twee bronnen vergeleken: (1) gegevens van het Peilstation die zijn aangeleverd door getrainde bedrijfsartsen over een beperkt aantal verzuimgevallen; en (2) verzuimgegevens uit de registraties van arbodiensten over grote aant...

In the past decade flexible labour market arrangements have emerged as a significant change in the European Union labour market. Studies suggest that these new types of labour arrangements may be linked to ill health, an increased risk for work disability, and inadequate vocational rehabilitation. Therefore, the objectives of this study were: 1. to...

A longitudinal study with three yearly waves of data collection among 1.013 employees was used to examine whether employers' health policy improved dedication of employees. Furthermore, it was examined whether health policy improved autonomy, social support (from supervisor, from colleagues), and organizational justice (procedural, distributive), a...

This study investigated whether work dedication and job resources are longitudinally related to work-related musculoskeletal disorders and whether job resources buffer the impact of job demands on these disorders? Data were used from a longitudinal three-phase study (2004, 2005, 2006) on health at work among a sample of Dutch workers. The first sur...

The effects of justice on work outcomes: a longitudinal perspective The effects of justice on work outcomes: a longitudinal perspective J.F. Ybema, Gedrag & Organisatie, volume 20, November 2007, nr. 4, pp. 409-426 A longitudinal three-wave study among 1597 employees examines how procedural and distributive justice are related to job satisfaction a...

Een hogere medische consumptie gaat samen met een hoger verzuim, maar het is niet bekend hoe deze factoren elkaar beïnvloeden over de tijd. In dit onderzoek kijken we daarom specifiek naar de longitudinale relatie tussen medische consumptie en verzuim. Het onderzoek is uitgevoerd onder 2317 werknemers in loondienst bij een groot ziekenhuis (respons...

Occupational accidents with physical and mental injury in relation with sickness absence Occupational accidents with physical and mental injury in relation with sickness absence The central question in this article is to what extent physical and mental injury due to an occupational accident are related to sickness absence. We analysed a large datab...

Although a number of surveillance systems and national surveys collect data on occupational accidents in the Netherlands, a national figure could hardly be presented in the past. This resulted in inability to evaluate the effects of preventive policies on actual worker safety and inability to set priorities for the protection of the most vulnerable...

A study was conducted among 295 nurses to examine the interest in social comparison information, that is, the desire to learn more about the feelings and responses of others facing a similar situation. Occupational burnout, in particular emotional exhaustion, reduced personal accomplishment and uncertainty, had independent relationships with the in...

We examine outcome satisfaction in situations in which people receive better outcomes than comparable other persons. Building on classical and modern social psychological theories, we argue that when reacting to these arrangements of advantageous inequity, judging the advantage is quick and easy as preferences are primary. We further propose that a...

Job satisfaction: result of job characteristics, work values, or both? Job satisfaction: result of job characteristics, work values, or both? Marije Evers, Jan Fekke Ybema & Peter Smulders, Gedrag & Organisatie, Volume 19, Maart 2006, nr. 1, pp. 37-52 This paper explores how job characteristics and work values influence job satisfaction in a sample...

This study examined to what extent couples facing cancer (N= 55) and healthy couples (N= 74) perceived various distributions of give-and-take to be just or fair when occurring within a relationship of a cancer patient and his or her partner. Participants read one of three versions of a bogus interview with a couple facing cancer. In these scenarios...

Gedrag & Organisatie through the years: What methodological tools do researchers in I/O psychology employ? Gedrag & Organisatie through the years: What methodological tools do researchers in I/O psychology employ? Toon Taris, Jan de Jonge & Jan Fekke Ybema, Gedrag & Organisatie, Volume 18, February 2005, nr. 1, pp. 47-57 The present study examines...

When one member of a couple develops a serious illness, the lives of both partners are likely to be affected. Interventions directed at both partners are generally lacking, however. In the present study, a brief counseling program directed at couples confronted with cancer was evaluated. The intervention focused mainly on the exchange of social sup...

This study in a sample of 135 women from rural areas examined the effects of social comparison with the marriage of another woman upon mood, identification and relationship evaluation. The comparison target constituted either an upward or a downward comparison, characterized by either high or low effort. Upward targets evoked a more positive mood,...

Examined emotional demand and the need for hiding of emotions at work in 4,334 Dutch workers. Emotional demand was high in occupations relating to health care, education and arts. The need for hiding emotions was especially high among policemen, security personnel and firemen. Further it was found that, in line with the hypotheses, emotional demand...

The central aim of the present study was to examine if equity theory still applies to intimate relationships when couples are confronted with a serious illness. Equity concerns were examined among 68 cancer patients and their partners. Contrary to our expectations, only male patients on average felt overbenefited in their relationship, whereas fema...

In the present study, caregiver burnout among the intimate partners of 106 cancer patients and 88 patients with multiple sclerosis was assessed. This study examined how burnout is related to marital quality and perceptions of inequity in the relationship. LISREL analyses showed that higher perceptions of inequity are strongly associated with higher...

This study examined evaluations of a proposal to equalize the budget for special education across regions among 1,114 participants affiliated with either mainstream or special education in The Netherlands. In line with predictions, it was found that equalization was more positively evaluated as expected outcomes for the own region were more favorab...

Guided by equity theory, the present study examined the balance of give-and-take in couples facing cancer. Healthy couples were included as a control group. Patients with cancer felt, as expected, more overbenefited in their relationship than did healthy people. Contrary to our expectation, their partners did not feel underbenefited; they felt as e...

This study investigates the relationship of socio-economic inequality (SEI) with criminal victimisation. It is hypothesised that disadvantage in terms of SEI is associated with increased risk of being victimised and with increased distress following victimisation. Two concepts of SEI are applied: social class (measured in terms of relation to work)...

In a study among sociotherapists, the affective consequences of social comparison were examined and related to professional burnout and to individual differences in social comparison orientation. Participants were confronted with a bogus interview with an upward versus a downward comparison target. Upward comparison generated more positive and less...

The affective consequences of social comparison were examined in 2 field studies among nurses and related to the 3 dimensions of professional burnout: emotional exhaustion, reduced personal accomplishment, and depersonalization. Study t was conducted in a sample of 99 nurses of a psychiatric hospital, and Study 2 in a sample of 237 nurses employed...

In the present study, symptoms of nonclinical depression among 106 cancer patients and their intimate partners were assessed. From the perspective of equity theory, it was examined how depression was related to neuroticism marital quality, and perceptions of inequity in the relationship. LISREL analyses showed that neuroticism and perceptions of in...

The goal of this study was to experimentally examine how social comparison with younger and same-age targets influences perceptions of future well-being and mood among elderly women. In addition, we assessed whether life satisfaction and reminiscence about a positive former self moderated these reactions. Results indicated that reminiscence prior t...

In the present study, possible determinants and effects of three different styles of giving support by healthy partners of patients with cancer were examined. Both partners' and patients' perceptions regarding these ways of providing support by healthy partners were studied. A survey was conducted among 106 patients with cancer and their intimate p...

Examined the effects of social comparison and the mediating roles of stress and social support among individuals who had recently lost their jobs. A part of a fictitious interview with another fired person was presented to 172 21–59 yr old recently unemployed Ss. This interview contained social comparison information on the target's condition in co...

The present study examined the effects of social comparison among 112 individuals receiving payments under the Disablement Insurance Act. A part of a fictitious interview with another disabled person was presented to the subjects. This interview contained upward or downward social comparison information about either the problem severity or coping s...

Selective evaluation processes were examined in a study involving 167 individuals receiving payments under the Disablement Insurance Act in the Netherlands. A factor analysis showed 6 strategies of selective evaluation: emphasizing benefits, downward comparison, devaluing former dimensions, imaging “worse worlds,” positive framing, and creating new...

This study examined the effects of feedback on a task on information seeking and partner preferences as forms of social comparison. It was predicted that subjects who experienced failure and perceived control over future performance would, for reasons of self-improvement, choose more strongly upward a comparison other than subjects who experienced...