Abstract
PurposeThis study aims to investigate the role of work–family conflict (WFC) and work engagement (WE) and its influence on role stressors and turnover intention among medical doctors in Malaysian public hospitals. Doctors who experience higher work stress will inevitably experience WFC, consequently triggering their intention to quit.Design/methodology/approachA total of 202 structured questionnaire responses were collected from medical doctors in four Malaysian public hospitals. The study used partial least squares structural equation modeling (SmartPLS 3.0) for hypotheses testing.FindingsAs hypothesized, WFC encourages turnover intention while WE mitigate the relationship between role ambiguity (RA)-TI. RA is also observed to reduce WE, which, in turn, increases the intention to quit. Findings showed that both role conflict and WFC share a positive relationship with TI while WE and TI are negatively related. Furthermore, it was found that WE and WFC are significant mediators in the RA and TI relationship. WFC is also reported to be a significant mediator between the RC and TI relationship.Research limitations/implicationsThe causality effects remain limited due to the nature of the cross-sectional design. Future studies should use a longitudinal approach to gauge a better understanding of these relationships.Practical implicationsThis study provides insights for policymakers in resolving the increase of turnover issues by providing support and relieving medical doctors’ stress levels. Health directors should be encouraged to focus on the key aspects that may directly affect the well-being of medical doctors and eventually reduced staff turnover.Originality/valueThe study contributes to existing knowledge by measuring variables such as job demand (RS and WFC), personal resources (WE) and job outcomes (TI) in the public health care sector. Additionally, research involving COR theory in Asian countries like Malaysia remains relatively underexplored.
Highlights
With the rise of emerging illnesses and a recent global pandemic, the burden of the medical staff’s workload in the health care sector increases
The present study examines the personal resources component (WE) in the COR theory besides investigating the issue of work–family conflict (WFC) as job demands increases psychological role stressors and weakened work engagement (WE)
The internal consistency of the constructs was deemed adequate as the composite reliability value was between 0.83 and 0.92 for all five constructs exceeded 0.70
Summary
With the rise of emerging illnesses and a recent global pandemic, the burden of the medical staff’s workload in the health care sector increases. A similar notion was reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) where a total of 27 million health care personnel are required by 2030 to fully cater to the unmet health care expectations. If this crisis remains unresolved, the likelihood of achieving both the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) and Millennium Development Goal (MDGs) seems far-fetched (ILO, 2017). Health workers are often highly susceptible to stress and may succumb to burnout This detrimental effect on their well-being is one of the contributing factors in medical staff resigning from their jobs, thereby increasing staff shortage when the workforce is already stretched. The situation is worsened by the constraint of the limited availability of current resources in preventing staff turnover
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