The impact of psychological capital on nurses' job performance: a chain mediation analysis of problem-focused coping and job engagement.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have explored the relationships of psychological capital with employees' job performance in the health sector. However, the possible indirect pathways, including a serial mediation of problem-focus coping and job engagement, have not been extensively examined. This article explores how psychological capital influences nurses' coping strategies focused on problem-solving, their level of engagement with their jobs, and how this, in turn, affects their job performance. METHODS: The study involved 575 nurses from Cameroon's public health sector. It investigated how psychological capital, an intrinsic resource, triggers nurses' problem-focus coping liaison with job engagement to impact job performance. Analysis was conducted to assess the relationships among psychological capital, problem-focus coping, job engagement, and job performance with the use of SmartPLS 4.0 and PROCESS 4.2. RESULTS: Findings revealed a significant effect of psychological capital on problem-focus coping, job engagement and job performance. Moreover, notable relationships were identified between psychological capital, problem-focus coping, job engagement, and performance, highlighting a chain mediation effect. CONCLUSION: The research advocates for hospital managers to employ strategies fostering employees' psychological capital to better cope with organizational stressors to promote job engagement and enhance job performance. The study contributes fresh insights into healthcare organizational dynamics and human resource management, providing a foundation for future advancements in this field.

Teamwork quality and health workers burnout nexus: a new insight from canonical correlation analysis.

BACKGROUND: Burnout is evidenced to have  adverse effect on the well-being of health workers. Although several risk factors of burnout have been found, only a hand full of studies have examined the role of teamwork quality. This study therefore sought to explore the relationship between the sub-dimensions of burnout and teamwork quality. METHOD: This is an empirical study involving health workers who have practising certificate from the National Health Commission of the People's Republic of China. Relying on the study's target population, a sample of 939 healthworkers complied to partake in the survey. Data were obtained from the administration of a well-structured electronic questionnaire containing the Maslach Burnout Inventory together with Healthy and Resilient Organization (HERO) scales correspondingly. The scales were then analysed using the canonical correlation approach (CCA). RESULTS: The results unveiled a statistically significant correlation between teamwork quality and health worker burnout indicating that teamwork quality and burnout are canonically correlated. Further, examination on the relationship existing between the dimensions of teamwork quality and burnout unveiled that with the exception of personal accomplishment and teamwork dedication, teamwork quality sub-scales (teamwork vigour and teamwork absorption) were negatively related to emotional exhaustion and depersonalization as sub-scales of burnout, respectively. CONCLUSION: The study concluded that, surge in teamwork quality leads to reduced emotional exhaustion and reduced depersonalization while simultaneously increasing professional accomplishment. Therefore, this study presents a solid foundation for decreasing burnout syndrome in healthcare that can be implemented by successfully increasing levels of teamwork quality.

Drivers of food security in West Africa: Insight from heterogeneous panel data analysis on income-level classification.

This paper investigates the factors driving food security in West African countries. Specifically, it examines the impact of natural resource rents, institutional quality, and climate change on food security while controlling for industrialization and economic growth. Our research is motivated by the urgent need for swift policy action to address the escalating food crisis in the region and prevent any potential catastrophic consequences. Second-generation econometric techniques are utilized for accurate and reliable outcomes based on yearly datasets from West African countries from 2000 to 2020, and the countries are sub-grouped into low-income and lower-middle-income. The findings unveil the panel as heterogeneous and cross-sectionally based, and all the study variables are first differenced stationary and co-integrated in the long run. Hence, the Augmented Mean Group and Common Correlated Effects Mean Group estimators are utilized to explore the relationships between the variables, and the findings reveal that natural resource rents, climate change, and industrialization are detrimental to food security across the sub-groups. However, the outcomes affirm institutional quality and economic growth as beneficial drivers of food security across the sub-groups. Therefore, this study recommends that authorities of both low-income and lower-middle-income countries make substantial investments in sustainable natural resource utilization and also work towards enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of their institutions, as well as investing in environmental research to explore climate change mitigation possibilities that could enhance food security in West Africa.

Does obesity Kuznets curve exist in developing economies? Evidence from 38 African countries based on heterogeneous panel data analysis on income-level classification.

Introduction: The global pandemic disease known as the obesity epidemic has spread throughout the planet. Particularly, Africa is facing a growing problem of obesity, and the trend is rising. This is a result of a ticking time bomb. Given the claim that multiple socio-economic factors significantly affect the diversity in obesity rates between nations, economic development can be seen as a key contributor to this variation. Methods: Relying on the aforementioned avowal, this extant research examines the relationship between obesity and economic growth using urbanization, trade openness, and unemployment as intermittent variables within the Obesity Kuznets Curve (OKC) framework. Using panel data from 1990 to 2020, a panel of 38 African countries subdivided into income levels (Low income, Lower-middle income, and Upper-middle income) were analyzed. With the presence of residual cross-sectional reliance and slope heterogeneity, the Augmented Mean Group (AMG) econometric approach is employed. Results: Key outcomes from the mentioned estimation method unveiled that economic growth positively impacts obesity among all the study panels. Variably, unemployment was evidenced to have a palpable positive impact on obesity concerning Low-income economies whereas on the side of the Lower-middle income panel together with Upper-middle income economies and the aggregated panel, a significant negative relationship is observed with obesity. Further, urbanization enhanced obesity in the Low-income panel and the aggregated panel of African nations, whereas an adverse effect is identified in both the Lower-middle and Upper-middle economies in Africa. Moreover, except for Low-income African economies, all the other panels of African nations in terms of income levels were noted to have a significant negative effect on obesity from trade openness. Discussion: Finally, the long-run coefficients indicated that the OKC is valid among all panels of African countries. The study thus preferably suggests in African economies that addressing the inverted U-shape relationship between obesity and economic growth requires a multifaceted approach that considers the evolving dynamics of both factors. Policy makers should, therefore, aim to balance promoting economic growth and safeguarding public health through targeted interventions and long-term strategies.

Exploring the Dynamic Nexus Among Economic Growth, Industrialization, Medical Technology, and Healthcare Expenditure: A PMG-ARDL Panel Data Analysis on Income-Level Classification Along West African Economies.

This article explored the dynamic nexus among economic growth, industrialization, medical technology, and healthcare expenditure in West Africa while using urbanization and aged population as control variables. West African countries were sub-sectioned into low-income (LI) and lower-middle-income (LMI) countries. Panel data extracted from the World Development Indicators (WDI) from 2000 to 2019 were used for the study. More modern econometric techniques that are vigorous to cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity were employed in the analytical process in order to provide accurate and trustworthy results. The homogeneity test and cross-sectional dependency test confirmed the studied panels to be heterogeneous and cross-sectionally dependent, respectively. Moreover, the CADF and CIPS unit root tests showed that the variables were not integrated in the same order. This, thus, leads to the employment of the PMG-ARDL estimation approach, which unveiled economic growth and urbanization as trivial determinants of healthcare expenditure in the LI and LMI panels. However, the results affirmed industrialization as a major determinant of healthcare expenditure in the LI and LMI panels. Additionally, medical technology was confirmed to decrease healthcare expenditure in the LMI panel, whereas in the LI panel, an insignificant impact was witnessed. Also, the aged population was found to intensify healthcare expenditure in both the LI and LMI panels. Lastly, on the causal connection between the series, the outcome revealed a mixture of causal paths among the variables in all the panels. Policy recommendations have therefore been proposed based on the study's findings.

Does energy consumption, economic growth, urbanization, and population growth influence carbon emissions in the BRICS? Evidence from panel models robust to cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity.

This paper examined the nexus between economic growth, energy consumption, urbanization, population growth, and carbon emissions in the BRICS economies from 1990 to 2019. In order to yield valid and reliable outcomes, modern econometric techniques that are vigorous to cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity were employed. From the findings, the studied panel was heterogeneous and cross-sectionally dependent. Also, all the series were first differenced stationary and co-integrated in the long run. The Augmented Mean Group (AMG) and the Common Correlated Effects Mean Group (CCEMG) estimators were employed to estimate the elastic effects of the predictors on the explained variable, and from the output of both estimators, energy consumption worsened environmental quality via high carbon emissions. Also, the AMG estimator affirmed economic growth to be a significantly positive determinant of carbon emissions. However, both estimators confirmed urbanization and population growth as trivial predictors of the emissivities of carbon. On the causal connections amidst the series, there was bidirectional causality between economic growth and carbon emissions, between energy consumption and economic growth, between economic growth and population growth, between energy consumption and urbanization, and between economic growth and urbanization. Lastly, a causation from urbanization to carbon emissions was unfolded. Policy implications are further discussed.