Measuring social capital of healthcare organizations reported by employees for creating positive workplaces - validation of the SOCAPO-E instrument

Lena Ansmann,Christoph Kowalski,Nicole Ernstmann,Lorna Mckee,Markus Antonius Wirtz,Holger Pfaff,Kira Isabel Hower

doi:10.1186/s12913-020-05105-9

Abstract

BackgroundIn highly segmented and complex healthcare organizations social capital is assumed to be of high relevance for the coordination of tasks in healthcare. So far, comprehensively validated instruments on social capital in healthcare organizations are lacking. The aim of this work is to validate an instrument measuring social capital in healthcare organizations.MethodsThis validation study is based on a cross-sectional survey of 1050 hospital employees from 49 German hospitals which specialize in breast cancer care. Social capital was assessed by a six-item scale. Reliability analyses and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to determine the content validity of items within the theory-driven one-dimensional scale structure. The scale’s associations with measures of the social aspects of the work environment (identification, social support, open communication climate) were estimated to test convergent validity. Criterion-related validity was evaluated by conducting structural equation modelling to examine the predictive validity of the scale with measures of work engagement, well-being and burnout.ResultsA one-dimensional structure of the instrument could be identified (CFI = .99; RMSEA = .06). Convergent validity was shown by hypothesis-consistent correlations with social support offered by supervisors and colleagues, a climate of open communication, and employee commitment to the organization. Criterion-related validity of the social capital scale was proved by its prediction of employee work engagement (R2 = .10–.13 for the three subscales), well-being (R2 = .13), and burnout (R2 = .06–.11 for the three subscales).ConclusionsThe confirmed associations between social capital and work engagement, burnout as well as well-being stress the importance of social capital as a vital resource for employee health and performance in healthcare organizations. In healthcare organizations this short instrument can be used as an efficient instrument to measure the organizations’ social capital.

Highlights

In highly segmented and complex healthcare organizations social capital is assumed to be of high relevance for the coordination of tasks in healthcare
The SOCAPO-E instrument We aimed to validate a short instrument to measure communal social capital of healthcare organizations reported by employees (SOCAPO-E)
The indicators reveal that the original social capital model appears not to have an optimal incremental model adjustment

Summary

Introduction

In highly segmented and complex healthcare organizations social capital is assumed to be of high relevance for the coordination of tasks in healthcare. Since the 1990s, healthcare organizations in modern healthcare systems experienced a constantly changing environment characterized among others by increasing economic pressure, restructuring and shortage of qualified healthcare professionals [1]. Healthcare organizations and their professionals perceived high insecurity [2, 3]. One proposed solution to solve both problems is to increase the social capital of employees working in healthcare organizations [10, 11]. The reason to propose the improvement of social capital as a solution to the problems mentioned is that it has two main functions: 1) for the organization: a performance-enhancing function [12], and 2) for the individual: a well-being function [13]

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