Specific Job Resources Research Articles

Australian regional cancer nurses’ experiences of burnout during 2019–2021

BackgroundCancer nurses are known to experience high rates of burnout. Despite cancer nurses being critical to providing care for people in rural and remote areas, there is limited research exploring the unique challenges and job demands experienced by regional cancer nurses, and the job demands which may act to buffer these stressors. AimThis study aims to identify antecedents of burnout among Victorian regional cancer nurses over a two-year period, by examining the job demands and resources prevalent in their work. We will build on existing literature by identifying specific job resources that can ameliorate job demands experienced by regional cancer nurses. MethodsA qualitative case study with participants located in regional Victoria, Australia was employed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted both prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. FindingsPatient aggression, emotional demands, unsupportive peers and management, and resource constrained work environments were reported as distinct job demands; while job significance, supportive peers and leadership, and connection to community were reported as job resources. ConclusionIn regional settings, patient aggression, workforce shortages, hazardous work environments and inconsistent digitisation of patient management systems are common characteristics of under-resourced workplaces. Despite these challenges, participants reported a strong desire to remain in the profession, mostly due to their commitment to their communities. Supportive peers and colleagues were also reported as an important job resource, particularly during the pandemic. Summaryof relevance Problem or issueCancer nurses in rural and regional areas experience unique job demands. There is limited existing literature on the stressors experienced by regional cancer nurses resulting from these job demands. What is already knownCancer nurses require specialised knowledge and skills to undertake emotionally demanding work. Nurses providing care to people with cancer in regional areas experience the additional pressure of dual relationships with patients, because of living and working in close-knit communities. What this paper addsThis study identifies the unique job demands experienced by cancer nurses in regional areas of Victoria, Australia. The findings identify several site-specific demands characteristic of an under resourced workplace, including the inconsistent digitalisation of medical records are new. Positive job factors that enable regional cancer nurses to manage their roles in a highly demanding work environment were attributed to the culture of rural communities. Understanding the importance of local culture to retention provides healthcare leaders with insights to improve staff health and wellbeing through increasing local engagement and connection, and buffer challenges associated with burnout in cancer nurses practicing in regional areas of Victoria.

Factors associated with work ability among employees of an Italian university hospital

BackgroundA growing body of evidence clearly documents the benefits of integrated systems approaches to protecting and promoting the safety, health and well-being of workers. The purpose of this study is to provide a holistic view of the work ability of employees of an Italian University Hospital measuring their resources in relation to job demands. In particular, it examines socio-demographics, family and organizational antecedents of health professionals’ work ability.MethodsA survey was conducted to assess the work ability of healthcare professionals, including physicians, nurses and administrative staff, working at the University Hospital of Modena (Italy). The data collection allows us to get a sample of 443 workers, who correspond to 11% of the target population. The data were analyzed using preliminary statistics on the main characteristics of the sample in terms of work ability, socio-demographic variables, family and organizational characteristics. In addition, logit models of the likelihood of having high work ability were estimated using SPSS version 25.ResultsWork ability decreases with increasing age, comorbidity, high body mass index, having at least one child under 5 and/or a dependent adult, having a poor work-life balance, and doing more than 20 h of housework. Specific job resources can significantly promote work ability, including relationship-oriented leadership, autonomy in decision making and individuals’ skill match. The nursing profession is associated with a low work ability. Finally, a significant gender gap has been documented. Women find it more difficult to reconcile life and work, especially when they have children of preschool age and work in professions with greater responsibilities, as in the case of women doctors, who experience lower work capacity.ConclusionsOur results suggest that it is necessary to consider other factors, in addition to age, that are equally relevant in influencing work ability. Consequently, organisational interventions could be implemented to improve the work ability of all workers. In addition, we propose targeted interventions for groups at risk of reduced work capacity, in particular older workers (45 years and over), nurses, women with children of preschool age and in the position of physician.

EFFECT OF JOB STRESS ON EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE: THE ROLE OF ENTRAPMENT IN GOVERNMENT HOSPITALS WITHIN JOS METROPOLIS, PLATEAU STATE, NIGERIA

Work related stress is a genuine and developing issue in the present world. Many employees, especially health workers in the world are witnessing an alarming increase in job stress. This was further worsened with the advent of the novel COVID 19 which put health workers in difficult and highly demanding work environments, and this negative effect of job stress on employee performance necessitated the need for this study. This study examined the effect of four job stress factors on employee performance, and how entrapment mediate the relationship between job stress and employee performance among health workers in government hospitals in Jos, Plateau State. The study adopted survey research method. A representative sample size of 341 health workers was used for this study, out of which three hundred and four (304) copies of the questionnaire were retrieved for analysis. Multiple regression model was employed to test the hypothesized relationships using SPSS. The result revealed that work overload, role conflict and harassment had significant and negative effects on employee performance. The study also showed that the relationship between peer competition and employee performance was not significant, and finally hypothesis five shows that entrapment mediates the relationship between job stress and employee performance. It was therefore recommended among others that Healthcare managers should employ management intervention programmes that would promote both the work place and the individual’s coping strategies. Specific job resources such as autonomy, job control, empowerment, organizational support, and access to information should be enhanced in other for healthcare professionals to deal with high job demands. Healthy competition should be encouraged among health workers in order to improve their effectiveness at work, and finally; Management should find a way of repressing dangerous competitive drive among employees in the workplace by providing an equal platform for all employees to thrive in their careers.

The Indirect Effect of Job Resources on Employees’ Intention to Stay: A Serial Mediation Model with Psychological Capital and Work–Life Balance as the Mediators

The COVID-19 pandemic has induced a sudden shift from work in an office setting to work from home. The flexibility and job autonomy achieved through telecommuting ought to facilitate positive outcomes among employees. Apart from a few contradicting studies, telecommuting literature predominantly revolves around the positive aspects of working from home. However, the number of employees voluntarily leaving their jobs has increased since “the great resignation” in March 2021. Therefore, building upon the conservation of resource theory and the job demands and resources framework, the current study tests the influence of specific job resources, job autonomy (JA), and perceived organizational support (POS) on employees’ intention to stay (IS) directly and indirectly through a unique serial mediation pathway of psychological capital (PsyCap) and work–life balance (WLB). The results affirmed that JA and POS have a positive association with employees’ IS. Moreover, PsyCap and WLB were also found serially mediating the direct association between JA, POS, and employees’ IS. The current study’s findings offer valuable insights for HR managers on the relevance of specific job resources and the role of psychological capital in controlling attrition rates. The findings of this study could be helpful for HR managers to design measures to reduce attrition rates and foster work–life balance and positive outcomes among employees. This study is among the first to instrument the indirect role (serial mediation) of PsyCap between job resources, WLB, and employees’ IS, thus significantly contributing to the literature.

Salutogenesis at Work as a Facilitator for Implementation? An Explorative Study on the Relationship of Job Demands, Job Resources and the Work-Related Sense of Coherence within a Complex Healthcare Programme.

Background: The implementation of complex healthcare programmes can be challenging for respective service providers (SPs) in implementation settings. A strong work-related sense of coherence (Work-SoC) promotes creation of job resources and potentially facilitates coping with demands that may arise during implementation. In this study, we analyse how SPs’ Work-SoC is influenced by job resources and demands during programme implementation and identify relevant implementation strategies to ensure a salutogenic implementation process. Methods: Qualitative data were collected during the implementation of a new complex psycho-oncological care programme called isPO. Four focus groups and four interviews were conducted with SPs. All were audiotaped, transcribed and content analysis was applied, whilst ensuring inter- and intra-rater reliability. Results: Each Work-SoC component was influenced by specific job resources and demands. In particular, comprehensibility and manageability interacted. Manageability affected assessment of the programme’s feasibility. High meaningfulness positively affected the programme’s acceptance and overall assessment among SPs. Furthermore, it buffered low manageability and was strongly associated with project identification. Conclusion: We found that Work-SoC could be used to assess SPs’ work environment, and therefore programme feasibility. It may be worthwhile to use Work-SoC as an implementation outcome or as an indicator for possible programmes.

The relative importance of various job resources for work engagement: A concurrent and follow-up dominance analysis

Job resources are known to be key drivers of work engagement, but surprisingly, little is known about the relative importance of specific job resources in comparison to one another. We investigated the relative importance of eight job resources both cross-sectionally and over a 3-year time period. We hypothesized that job resources at the task level are “universally” important and contribute relatively more to work engagement than other types of job resources. We employed dominance analyses to a large cross-sectional data set ( N = 11,468 from 87 organizations), focusing specifically on 11 jobs, and to a two-wave data set ( N = 2,334). Three job resources emerged as the most important both for concurrent and future work engagement across the jobs and samples: skill discretion, job feedback, and team empowerment. Practically, this study suggests that interventions to enhance work engagement could focus on increasing skill discretion and job feedback and on building team empowerment. JEL: L200 Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior: General

Grit protects medical students from burnout: a longitudinal study

BackgroundBurnout is a serious issue plaguing the medical profession with potential negative consequences on patient care. Burnout symptoms are observed as early as medical school. Based on a Job Demands-Resources model, this study aims to assess associations between specific job resources measured at the beginning of the first year of medical school with burnout symptoms occurring later in the first year.MethodsThe specific job resources of grit, tolerance for ambiguity, social support and gender were measured in Duke-NUS Medical School students at the start of Year 1. Students were then surveyed for burnout symptoms at approximately quarterly intervals throughout the year. Using high ratings of cynicism and exhaustion as the definition of burnout, we investigated the associations of the occurrence of burnout with student job resources using multivariable logistic regression analysis.ResultsOut of 59 students, 19 (32.2%) indicated evidence of burnout at some point across the first year of medical school. Stepwise multivariable logistic regression analysis identified grit as having a significant protective effect against experiencing burnout (Odds Ratio, 0.84; 95%CI 0.74 to 0.96). Using grit as a single predictor of burnout, area under the ROC curve was 0.76 (95%CI: 0.62 to 0.89).ConclusionsGrit was identified as a protective factor against later burnout, suggesting that less gritty students are more susceptible to burnout. The results indicate that grit is a robust character trait which can prognosticate burnout in medical students. These students would potentially benefit from enhanced efforts to develop grit as a personal job resource.

Insights about mental health aspects at intralogistics workplaces – A field study

The present field study investigated mental health aspects at intralogistics workplaces, as cognitive and social demands have largely changed in this branch. Within a cross-sectional, mixed methods study design, forty-one intralogistics employees completed a survey about their working conditions and mental states. Further, nine workers participated in a systematic, qualitative group interview to obtain intralogistics specific job resources and job demands. The results were compared to known mechanisms from a long-established psychological model (the Job-Demands and Resources model, JD-R model) to evaluate if these general assumptions still apply at modern working conditions. As expected and in line with the JD-R model, regression analyzes supported that job resources predicted work engagement (p < .05) and job demands predicted burnout symptoms (p < .001) even at modern intralogistics workplaces. However, no interaction effects (Job Demands X Job Resources) were found. The qualitative interviews highlighted several job demands and job resources, which were reported as especially relevant for modern intralogistics workplaces by the participants. Based on the findings, practical recommendations were evolved for the improvement of mental health at intralogistics workplaces. Job resources, for example process transparency or respectful and esteeming leadership behavior, can be increased in order to improve work engagement. Job demands, for example task interruptions, excessive time pressure or profuse exposure to physical stress should be controlled to reduce burnout symptoms.

Engaging leader – Engaged employees? A cross-lagged study on employee engagement

The goal of this study is to provide a cross-lagged examination of the relationships between engaging leadership, job resources and employee work engagement. We propose a mediation model and we postulate that engaging leadership can increase perceptions of three specific job resources (i.e. autonomy, support from colleagues and opportunities for learning and development) which theoretically correspond to the three facets of engaging leadership (i.e., inspiring, connecting and strengthening, respectively). Subsequently, in keeping with the extant body of Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) research, we link job resources to employee work engagement. Our hypotheses were tested on data collected at two time-points – T1 (N = 759) and T2 (N = 273) –from employees working for a hotel chain in the Netherlands. In line with our expectations, engaging leadership showed a significant cross-lagged relationship with autonomy and support from colleagues, but did not predict learning opportunities and work engagement across time. While we formulated specific hypotheses, we also tested reversed causation relationships. We found no direct effect from engaging leadership on employee work engagement, however, the reversed effect was significant; employee perceptions of engaging leadership were shaped by their own engagement experiences. Importantly, engaged employees at T1 reported more job resources at T2. By providing a cross-lagged examination of our model, we showed that engaging leaders as well as employees’ positive affective state of being engaged, are essential to shaping a resourceful work context. A comprehensive view on the triggers and outcomes of work engagement and engaging leadership is needed, as the traditional unidirectional cause-effect rationale fails to explain how these concepts relate to one another and to employee experiences of job resources.

Investigating strengths and deficits to increase work engagement: A longitudinal study in the mining industry

Orientation: The motivational process of the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model indicates that job resources are the main predictors of work engagement. Previous research has found that the two job resources perceived organisational support (POS) for strengths use and POS for deficit correction are also positively related to work engagement. However, the causal relationships between these variables have not been investigated longitudinally.Research purpose: To determine if POS for strengths use and POS for deficit correction are significant predictors of work engagement over time.Motivation for the study: In the literature, empirical evidence on the longitudinal relationships between work engagement and specific job resources, namely POS for strengths use and POS for deficit correction, is limited.Research design, approach and method: A longitudinal design was employed in this study. The first wave elicited a total of 376 responses, while the second wave had a total sample size of 79. A web-based survey was used to measure the constructs and to gather data at both points in time. Structural equation modelling was used to investigate the hypotheses.Main findings: The results indicated that both POS for strengths use and POS for deficit correction are positively related to work engagement in the short term. However, only POS for deficit correction significantly predicted work engagement over time.Practical and managerial implications: The results provide valuable insights to organisations by providing knowledge regarding which approach influences work engagement levels of their employees in the short and long term.Contribution or value-add: The study contributes to the limited research on what job resources predict work engagement over time.

Intention to leave among health care professionals: The importance of working conditions and social capital

Hospitals in Sweden are redesigning their care processes to increase efficiency. However, related to these changes, there is a risk of increased staff intention to leave and turnover due to increased workload and work pace. The literature on work engagement and job demands and resources suggests that specific job resources can buffer negative effects; i.e., intention to leave because of job demands. Social capital is suggested to have the potential to be a resource associated with staff intention to leave. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations between social capital and intention to leave and to test if social capital moderates the relationship between job demands and intention to leave. A sample of five hospitals working under conditions of improvements of care processes were studied using a questionnaire administered to the healthcare clinicians (n = 849). High levels of social capital were associated with low levels of intention to leave. However, the moderating effect of social capital was not confirmed. Intention to leave among occupational groups was influenced differently by social capital, other job resources, and job demands.

Are support and control beneficial stress buffers in the presence of work–family barriers? Findings from Italy.

Work–family barriers can be conceived as a stressor, as it refers to organizational time demands interfering with an employee’s family-related needs and anticipated negative career outcomes as a result of prioritizing family over work. The negative effects of stressors can be buffered by various resources. In this study, we examined whether 4 specific job resources (i.e., work–family organizational support, supervisors’ and coworkers’ overall support, and job control) buffer against work–family barriers in relation to work-to-family enrichment. We sampled 447 Italian workers employed in the food-processing industry. The results of hierarchical regression analyses showed that all the studied resources, except work–family organizational support, buffered against the negative effects of work–family barriers on work-to-family enrichment. In addition, 3 of 4 resources (i.e., work–family organizational support, job control, and supervisors’ overall social support) had a direct positive effect on work-to-family enrichment. The results call attention to job resources in boosting a positive work–family interface, and cross-validate the positive effects of resources in an Italian context.

Design of the DISCovery project: tailored work-oriented interventions to improve employee health, well-being, and performance-related outcomes in hospital care

BackgroundIt is well-known that health care workers in today’s general hospitals have to deal with high levels of job demands, which could have negative effects on their health, well-being, and job performance. A way to reduce job-related stress reactions and to optimize positive work-related outcomes is to raise the level of specific job resources and opportunities to recover from work. However, the question remains how to translate the optimization of the balance between job demands, job resources, and recovery opportunities into effective workplace interventions. The aim of the DISCovery project is to develop and implement tailored work-oriented interventions to improve health, well-being, and performance of health care personnel.Methods/DesignA quasi-experimental field study with a non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest design will be conducted in a top general hospital. Four existing organizational departments will provide both an intervention and a comparison group. Two types of research methods are used: (1) a longitudinal web-based survey study, and (2) a longitudinal daily diary study. After base-line measures of both methods, existing and yet to be developed interventions will be implemented within the experimental groups. Follow-up measurements will be taken one and two years after the base-line measures to analyze short-term and long-term effects of the interventions. Additionally, a process evaluation and a cost-effectiveness analysis will be carried out.DiscussionThe DISCovery project fulfills a strong need for theory-driven and scientifically well-performed research on job stress and performance interventions. It will provide insight into (1) how a balance between job demands, job resources, and recovery from work can be optimized, (2) the short-term and long-term effects of tailored work-oriented effects, and (3) indicators for successful or unsuccessful implementation of interventions.

A matter of match? An experiment on choosing specific job resources in different demanding work situations.

Though research on the demand-induced strain compensation (DISC) model has suggested that the type of job resources people employ to deal with job demands may have serious implications for job stress theory and practice, not much is known about the choices people make regarding the investment of job resources. The aim of this study is to fill this gap in the literature. In line with the DISC model, we were particularly interested in the extent to which people choose job resources that match job demands (i.e., matching job resources) and job resources that do not match job demands (i.e., nonmatching job resources). For that reason, several vignettes were developed to experimentally examine the extent to which people (92 undergraduates) choose cognitive, emotional, and physical job resources; combinations of these specific job resources; and no job resources at all in different hypothetical demanding work situations (i.e., cognitively, emotionally, and physically demanding jobs). As predicted, people generally chose cognitive job resources to deal with cognitive job demands, emotional job resources to deal with emotional job demands, and physical job resources to deal with physical job demands. Further, results showed that nonmatching job resources were particularly chosen as a supplement to matching job resources rather than as a substitute for matching job resources. However, in contrast to our predictions, there seemed to be a dominant role for nonmatching cognitive job resources in this respect, whereas nonmatching emotional job resources were chosen less often than expected.

The moderating role of decision authority and coworker- and supervisor support on the impact of job demands in nursing homes: A cross-sectional study

BackgroundHealthcare workers in nursing homes are faced with high job demands that can have a detrimental impact on job-related outcomes, such as job satisfaction. Job resources may have a buffering role on this relationship. The Demand-Control-Support (DCS) Model offers a theoretical framework to study how specific job resources can buffer the adverse effects of high demands, and can even activate positive consequences of high demands. ObjectivesThe present study tests the moderating (i.e. buffering and activating) effects of decision authority and coworker- and supervisor support that are assumed by the hypotheses of the DCS Model. DesignA national cross-sectional survey was conducted with an anonymous questionnaire. SettingOne hundred and thirty six living arrangements that provide nursing home care for people with dementia in the Netherlands. ParticipantsFifteen healthcare workers per living arrangement. In total, 1147 people filled out the questionnaires (59% response rate). MethodsHierarchical multilevel regression analyses were conducted to test the assumption that the effect of job demands on the dependent variables is buffered or activated the most when both decision authority and social support are high. This moderation is statistically represented by three-way interactions (i.e. demands×authority×support), while lower-order effects are taken into account (i.e. two-way interactions). The hypotheses are supported when three-way interaction effects are found in the expected direction. The dependent variables studied are job satisfaction, emotional exhaustion, and personal accomplishment. ResultsThe proposed buffering and activation hypotheses of the DCS Model were not supported in our study. Three-way interaction effects were found for emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment, though not in the expected direction. In addition, two-way interaction effects were found for job satisfaction and emotional exhaustion. Decision authority was found to buffer the adverse effect of job demands and to activate healthcare staff. Supervisor support was found to buffer the adverse effect of job demands on emotional exhaustion in situations with low decision authority. Finally, coworker support was found to have an adverse effect on personal accomplishment in high strain situations. ConclusionsFindings reveal that decision authority in particular makes healthcare workers in nursing homes less vulnerable to adverse effects of high job demands, and promotes positive consequences of work.

Convergence of self-reports and coworker reports of counterproductive work behavior: A cross-sectional multi-source survey among health care workers

Background Most studies of counterproductive work behavior (CWB) are criticized for overreliance on single-source self-reports. This study attempts to triangulate on behaviors and perceptions of the work environment by linking job incumbent self-report with coworker report of the job incumbent's behaviors. Theoretical framework is the Demand-Induced Strain Compensation (DISC) Model, which proposes in general that specific job resources should match specific job demands to reduce deviant behavioral outcomes such as CWB. Objectives To test the extent to which job incumbent self-report and coworker report of CWB in health care work converge, and the extent to which job incumbent-reported work-related antecedents (i.e., job demands and job resources) similarly predict both self-reported and coworker-reported behaviors (in line with DISC theory). Design A cross-sectional survey with anonymous questionnaires was conducted, using data from two different sources (self-reports and coworker reports). Settings A large organization for residential elderly care in the Northern urban area in The Netherlands. Participants Self-report and coworker questionnaires were distributed to 123 health care workers, of which 73 people returned the self-report questionnaire (59% response rate). In addition, 66 out of 123 coworker questionnaires were returned (54% coworker response rate). In total 54 surveys of job incumbents and coworkers could be matched. Methods Next to descriptive statistics, t-test, and correlations, hierarchical regression analyses were conducted using SPSS 15.0 for Windows. Results Correlations and a t-test demonstrated significant convergence between job incumbent and coworker reports of CWB. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that both job incumbent and coworker data consistently demonstrated CWB to be related to its work-related antecedents. Specifically, findings showed that both physical and emotional job resources moderated the relation between physical job demands and CWB. Conclusions The current findings provide stronger evidence that (multi-source measured) CWB is associated with job demands and job resources than has been provided in the past. Moreover, the present study implies that DISC theory has the potential of making a profound contribution to our understanding of counterproductive working behaviors in health care work. Future longitudinal studies should investigate this kind of relations more intensely.

Managing job stress in nursing: what kind of resources do we need?

This paper is a report of a study to investigate the functionality of different kinds of job resources for managing job stress in nursing. There is increasing recognition that healthcare staff, and especially nurses, are at high risk for burnout and physical complaints. Several researchers have proposed that job resources moderate the relationship between job demands and job-related outcomes, particularly when there is a match between the type of demands, resources, and outcomes. Based on the Demand-Induced Strain Compensation Model, cross-sectional survey data were collected between November 2006 and February 2007 by a paper-and-pencil questionnaire. The final sample consisted of 69 nurses from a Dutch nursing home (response rate 59.4%). Data were analyzed by hierarchical regression analyses. High physical demands had adverse effects on both physical complaints and emotional exhaustion (i.e. burnout), unless employees had high physical resources. A similar pattern was found for high physical demands and emotional resources in predicting emotional exhaustion. The likelihood of finding theoretically-valid moderating effects was related to the degree of match between demands, resources, and outcomes. Job resources do not randomly moderate the relationship between job demands and job-related outcomes. Both physical and emotional resources seem to be important stress buffers for human service employees such as nurses, and their moderating effects underline the importance of specific job resources in healthcare work. Job redesign in nursing homes should therefore primarily focus on matching job resources to job demands in order to diminish poor health and ill-being.