Demand-Resource Profiles and Job Satisfaction in the Healthcare Sector: A Person-Centered Examination Using Bayesian Informative Hypothesis Testing.

Work characteristics may independently and jointly affect well-being, so that whether job demands deplete or energize employees depends on the resources available in the job. However, contradictory results on their joint effects have emerged so far in the literature. We argue that these inconsistencies can be partially explained by two arguments in the contemporary literature in the field. First, most studies in the job design domain are based on classic variable-centered methodologies which, although informative, are not well suited to investigate complex patterns of interactions among multiple variables. Second, these studies have mainly focused on generic work characteristics (e.g., workload, control, support), and are lacking in occupational specificity. Thus, to overcome these limitations, in the current research we include generic and occupation-specific work characteristics and adopt a person-centered approach to (a) identify different patterns of interactions of job demands and resources in a sample of healthcare employees, and (b) determine the degree to which these patterns are associated with employee well-being. We involved a sample of 1513 Italian healthcare providers and collected data on key job demands (workload, emotional dissonance, patient demands and physical demands) and resources (control, management support and peers' support). We focused on job satisfaction as a broad indicator of well-being. Latent profile analysis revealed four profiles of job demands and resources: high strain-isolated, resourceless, resourceful and active job on the ward. The results of Bayesian informative hypothesis testing showed the highest support for the hypothesis stating that healthcare employees belonging to the active job on the ward profile (medium-high demands, high resources) were the most satisfied. Conversely, employees belonging to the high strain-isolated profile (high demands, low resources) and the resourceless profile (medium-low demands, low resources) were the least satisfied. Overall, our study confirms the key role played by job resources in determining well-being in high-risk sectors, demonstrating that job satisfaction can develop both in challenging and less demanding situations. On a practical level, mapping the complexity of the healthcare psychosocial work environment has important implications, allowing for a better assessment process of employee well-being and helping to identify the most effective and fitting interventions.

Integrated Patterns of Subjective Job Insecurity: A Multigroup Person-Centered Study.

Past research attests to the pivotal role of subjective job insecurity (JI) as a major stressor within the workplace. However, most of this research has used a variable-centered approach to evaluate the relative importance of one (or more) JI facets in explaining employee physical and psychological well-being. Relatively few studies have adopted a person-centered approach to investigate how different appraisals of JI co-occur within employees and how these might lead to the emergence of distinct latent profiles of JI, and, moreover, how those profiles might covary with well-being, personal resources, and performance. Using conservation of resources (COR) theory as our overarching theoretical framework and latent profile analysis as our methodological approach, we sought to fill this gap. To evaluate the external validity of our study results, we used employee sample data from two different countries (Italy and the USA) with, respectively, n = 743 and n = 494 employees. Results suggested the emergence of three profiles (i.e., the "secure", the "average type", and the "insecure") in both country samples. The "secure" group systematically displayed a less vulnerable profile in terms of physical and psychological well-being, self-rated job performance, positive orientation, and self-efficacy beliefs than the "insecure" group, while the "average" type position on the outcomes' continua was narrower. Theoretically, this supports COR's notion of loss spirals by suggesting that differing forms of JI appraisals tend to covary within-person. Practical implications in light of labor market trends and the COVID-19 pandemic are discussed.