Flexibility in change practices and job outcomes for nurses: exploring the role of subjective fit.

AIMS: To integrate existing theoretical perspectives on change management, subjective fit and occupational stress to better understand the effects of change on employee adjustment. BACKGROUND: Although subjective fit with organizational goals and objectives has been shown to have positive effects on employee adjustment, its role in the organizational change-occupational stress context is not understood. This represents a caveat in research when considering the notion that those who feel that they fit with the organization's goals may be better equipped to reconcile and deal with change. DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey of nurses from public and non-profit sector hospitals was conducted. METHOD: Data were collected from 252 public and non-profit sector nurses via online surveys. Data were collected from June-October in 2010. Structural equation modelling was used to test the direct and indirect effects among the focal variables. RESULTS: The results showed that public and non-profit nurses experience flexibility-limiting and flexibility-promoting change initiatives and that these are differentially related to the perception of administrative stressors and adjustment with these relationships directly and indirectly influenced by perceptions of subjective fit. Flexibility-limiting change initiatives led to lower levels of subjective fit, higher levels of administrative stressors and less favourable adjustment. On the other hand, flexibility-promoting change practices led to higher levels of subjective fit, lower levels of administrative stressors and ultimately better adjustment. CONCLUSION: The results further the theoretical understanding of the role of subjective fit in organizational change and occupational stress theories.

Organisational change stressors and nursing job satisfaction: the mediating effect of coping strategies.

AIM: To examine the mediating effect of coping strategies on the consequences of nursing and non-nursing (administrative) stressors on the job satisfaction of nurses during change management. BACKGROUND: Organisational change can result in an increase in nursing and non-nursing-related stressors, which can have a negative impact on the job satisfaction of nurses employed in health-care organisations. METHOD: Matched data were collected in 2009 via an online survey at two time-points (six months apart). RESULTS: Partial least squares path analysis revealed a significant causal relationship between Time 1 administrative and role stressors and an increase in nursing-specific stressors in Time 2. A significant relationship was also identified between job-specific nursing stressors and the adoption of effective coping strategies to deal with increased levels of change-induced stress and strain and the likelihood of reporting higher levels of job satisfaction in Time 2. CONCLUSIONS: The effectiveness of coping strategies is critical in helping nurses to deal with the negative consequences of organisational change. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: This study shows that there is a causal relationship between change, non-nursing stressors and job satisfaction. Senior management should implement strategies aimed at reducing nursing and non-nursing stress during change in order to enhance the job satisfaction of nurses.

Administrative stressors and nursing job outcomes in Australian public and non-profit health care organisations.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The main aim of this study is to develop a path model to examine the effect of administrative stressors on nursing work outcomes in a sample of Australian public and non-profit nurses. BACKGROUND: The implementation of managerial reform initiatives has negative consequences on work outcomes. However, less is known about the effects of these stressors in public and non-profit health care organisations. DESIGN: An online, self-completion questionnaire was sent to a random sample of nurses, employed in nursing-related occupations. PARTICIPANTS: Useable surveys were received from 251 nurses. METHODS: The path model was analysed using SmartPLS software (SmartPLS, Hamburg, Germany). RESULTS: Public and non-profit nurses experienced time and resource administrative-related stressors (such as resource shortage and pay not as good as other people doing similar work). They relied on work-related social support to reduce the negative consequences. Resource stressors led to job dissatisfaction while time stressors led to psychological strain. Nursing staff who reported better psychological health reported higher job satisfaction and higher level of commitment towards their organisations. CONCLUSIONS: Context-specific administrative stressors have a negative impact on the work outcomes of public and non-profit nurses. Work-related social support mechanisms were found to mediate the negative consequences of administrative resourcing stressors on nursing job satisfaction. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Nursing managers have to be sympathetic and care for the negative experiences of nursing staff, especially when there is an increasing level of administrative expectations during organisational change. Senior management should take note of the stressors caused by the lack of resources such as information, staffing and resources, as these were found to lead to an increase in nurses seeking work-related social support from their peers and supervisors. Effective implementation of these strategies would lead to a nursing workforce, which has higher level of psychological health, job satisfaction and organisational commitment.

Workplace bullying, psychological hardiness, and accidents and injuries in nursing: A moderated mediation model.

Workplace bullying are prevalent among the nursing workforce. Consequences of workplace bullying include psychological stress and workplace accidents and injuries. Psychological hardiness is proposed as a buffer for workplace bullying and psychological stress on workplace accidents and injuries. This study adopted the Affective Events Theory and Conservation of Resources Theory to develop and test a moderated mediated model in two field studies. Study 1 (N = 286, Australian nurses) found support for the direct negative effect of workplace bullying on workplace accidents and injuries with psychological stress acting as the mediator. The mediation findings from Study 1 were replicated in Study 2 (N = 201, New Zealand nurses). In addition, Study 2 supplemented Study 1 by providing empirical support for using psychological hardiness as the buffer for the association between psychological stress and workplace accidents and injuries. This study offers theoretical and empirical insights into the research and practice on psychological hardiness for improving the psychological well-being of employees who faced workplace mistreatments.

Leader Humility and Knowledge Sharing Intention: A Serial Mediation Model.

PURPOSE: This paper examines the influence of leader humility on knowledge sharing intention. Drawing on social exchange theory (SET), we test the direct and indirect mechanisms to explain the influence leader humility has on knowledge sharing intention. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: A two-wave, time-lagged field study was conducted. We surveyed 252 professional employees from Australia. FINDINGS: Results show a significant direct, positive association between leader humility and knowledge sharing intention. While leader humility had a direct, positive association with affective trust in supervisor and work engagement, it did not directly impact on organizational citizenship behaviors directed toward the individual (OCB-I). There were three SET-related, serial mediators in the relationship between leader humility and knowledge sharing intention. These were affective trust, work engagement, and OCB-I. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS: Future studies should collect multi-source data such as peers' or supervisors' ratings of the focal respondents' work engagement, OCB-I, and knowledge sharing behaviors to augment single-source data. Future studies could adopt an affect theory of social exchange to further explore the relationships tested in this study. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: This study contributes to the affect SET and knowledge management literature on how leadership behaviors impact the intention to share knowledge. Our study highlights the preference of the willingness to share knowledge with their co-workers is mediated by affective trust in their immediate supervisors, work engagement, and OCB-I that are equally important as treating their subordinates with humility.

Mindfulness as a personal resource to reduce work stress in the job demands-resources model.

Based on the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, this study examines the different ways that the personal resource of mindfulness reduces stress. Structural equation modeling based on data from 415 Australian nurses shows that mindfulness relates directly and negatively to work stress and perceptions of emotional demands as well as buffering the relation of emotional demands on psychological stress. This study contributes to the literature by employing empirical analysis to the task of unravelling how personal resources function within the JD-R model. It also introduces mindfulness as a personal resource in the JD-R model.

Predictors of Workplace Bullying and Cyber-Bullying in New Zealand.

BACKGROUND: The negative effects of in-person workplace bullying (WB) are well established. Less is known about cyber-bullying (CB), in which negative behaviours are mediated by technology. Drawing on the conservation of resources theory, the current research examined how individual and organisational factors were related to WB and CB at two time points three months apart. METHODS: Data were collected by means of an online self-report survey. Eight hundred and twenty-six respondents (58% female, 42% male) provided data at both time points. RESULTS: One hundred and twenty-three (15%) of participants had been bullied and 23 (2.8%) of participants had been cyber-bullied within the last six months. Women reported more WB, but not more CB, than men. Worse physical health, higher strain, more destructive leadership, more team conflict and less effective organisational strategies were associated with more WB. Managerial employees experienced more CB than non-managerial employees. Poor physical health, less organisational support and less effective organisational strategies were associated with more CB. CONCLUSION: Rates of CB were lower than those of WB, and very few participants reported experiencing CB without also experiencing WB. Both forms of bullying were associated with poorer work environments, indicating that, where bullying is occurring, the focus should be on organisational systems and processes.