Many studies show that organizational justice (OJ) is related to psychological determinants of employee health. To prevent health problems related to OJ in Korean workplaces and to accurately measure OJ, we developed the Korean version of the Organizational Justice Questionnaire (K-OJQ) and assessed its validity and reliability.

A questionnaire draft of the K-OJQ was developed using back-translation methods, which was preliminary tested by 32 employees in Korea. Feedback was received and the K-OJQ was finalized. This study used data from 303 workers (172 males, 131 females) in Korea using the K-OJQ, job stress, and lifestyle questionnaires.

Cronbach’s α coefficients of the internal consistency reliability was 0.92 for procedural justice and 0.94 for interactional justice. Factor analyses using SPSS 24 and Amos 23 extracted two expected factors, named procedural justice (7 items; range, 1.0–5.0) and interactional justice (6 items; range, 1.0–5.0) and showed a reliable fit (χ² = 182; p = .000; GFI = .912; AGFI = .877; CFI = .965; RMSEA = .077). Furthermore, higher procedural justice and interactional justice levels were correlated with lower job demand (− 0.33; − 0.36), insufficient job control (− 0.36; − 0.41), interpersonal conflict (− 0.45; − 0.51), job insecurity (− 0.33; − 0.34), organizational system (− 0.64; − 0.64), and lack of reward (− 0.55; − 0.63).

The K-OJQ was objectively validated through statistical methods.

The online version of this article (10.1186/s40557-018-0238-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The purpose of this study was to identify the risk factors of metabolic syndrome (MS) and to analyze the relationship between the risk factors of MS and medical cost of major diseases related to MS in Korean workers, according to the scale of the enterprise.

Data was obtained from annual physical examinations, health insurance qualification and premiums, and health insurance benefits of 4,094,217 male and female workers who underwent medical examinations provided by the National Health Insurance Corporation in 2009. Logistic regression analyses were used to the identify risk factors of MS and multiple regression was used to find factors associated with medical expenditures due to major diseases related to MS.

The study found that low-income workers were more likely to work in small-scale enterprises. The prevalence rate of MS in males and females, respectively, was 17.2% and 9.4% in small-scale enterprises, 15.9% and 8.9% in medium-scale enterprises, and 15.9% and 5.5% in large-scale enterprises. The risks of MS increased with age, lower income status, and smoking in small-scale enterprise workers. The medical costs increased in workers with old age and past smoking history. There was also a gender difference in the pattern of medical expenditures related to MS.

Health promotion programs to manage metabolic syndrome should be developed to focus on workers who smoke, drink, and do little exercise in small scale enterprises.