Abstract
BackgroundHealthcare professionals perform knowledge-intensive work in very specialized disciplines. Across the professional divide, collaboration becomes increasingly difficult. For effective teamwork and collaboration to occur, it is considered necessary for individuals to believe in their ability to draw on their expertise and provide what others need to perform their job well. To date, however, no instruments exist to measure such a construct.MethodsA two-study design is used to test the psychometric properties, factor structure and incremental validity of a five-item questionnaire measuring informational role self-efficacy.ResultsBased on parallel analysis and exploratory factor analysis, Study 1 shows a robust and reliable one-dimensional construct. Study 2 cross-validates this factor structure using confirmatory factor analysis. Study 2 also shows that informational role self-efficacy predicts proactive teamwork behaviors over and above goal similarity, interdependence, coordination and intra-team trust.ConclusionsThe instrument can be used in research to assess an individual’s capability beliefs in communicating his/her informational characteristics that are pertinent to the task performance of others. The construct is also shown to have value in team-building exercises.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12913-016-1382-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Healthcare professionals perform knowledge-intensive work in very specialized disciplines
Complexity and informational silos in healthcare The expanding rate of new knowledge in technical fields fosters the need for greater specialization and the development of subfields [1]. This phenomenon is echoed in healthcare [2] where healthcare professionals perform complex knowledge-intensive tasks [3]
Study 1 Construct definition and instrument development Based on Jehn, Bezrukova, and Thatcher’s definition of informational characteristics [7], on Murphy and Jackson’s definition of a work role as “the total set of performance responsibilities associated with one’s employment” [27], on Conway’s definition of task performance as “job-specific behaviors including core job responsibilities, for which the primary antecedents are likely to be ability and experience” [28], and on self-efficacy’s focus on specific beliefs in one’s capabilities to produce given attainments [9], we define informational role self-efficacy as an individual’s capability beliefs in communicating his/her informational characteristics that are pertinent to the task performance of others
Summary
Healthcare professionals perform knowledge-intensive work in very specialized disciplines. Complexity and informational silos in healthcare The expanding rate of new knowledge in technical fields fosters the need for greater specialization and the development of subfields [1]. This phenomenon is echoed in healthcare [2] where healthcare professionals perform complex knowledge-intensive tasks [3]. Chiocchio et al BMC Health Services Research (2016) 16:153 the belief is accompanied by additional efforts and persistence when facing difficulties [9]. A specific example in healthcare shows a positive relationship between increases in social service workers’ creative self-efficacy and increases in creative problem-solving and innovation [14]
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