Examining leadership and its influence on work-family interferences among health care professionals: Multiple mechanisms at play?

Leadership scholars note that the relationship of employees with their supervisor is crucial for the work-family balance these employees experience. A good relationship with your supervisor can seriously improve your work-family balance. This is especially crucial is a healthcare setting, which is often characterized by long work days and night shifts. However, it seems unclear precisely how leadership influences various work-family dimensions. Using leader-member exchange (LMX) theory, we analyze which mechanisms are at play here. We hypothesize that high quality LMX positively influences work-family dimensions via different mechanisms, rather than one all-encompassing mechanism such as empowerment. Hypotheses are tested on survey data collected among a national sample of 790 Dutch healthcare professionals. Findings of structural equation modeling indicate that high quality LMX lowers work-family conflict, and that this is mediated via lower work pressure. Furthermore, high quality LMX has a positive effect on work-family enrichment. This relationship is mediated by enhanced meaningfulness of work. In sum, this study shows that leadership indeed affects work-family interferences in healthcare settings, and that different mechanisms are at play here, depending on the particular dimension of work-family interference analyzed

The impact of leader-member exchange (LMX) on work-family interference and work-family facilitation

__Abstract__ __Purpose__ – We analyze the effects of leadership on work-family spillovers. Specifically, we analyze the relationships between leadership (leader-member exchange, LMX) with one negative work-family spillover effect (work-family interference) and one positive work-family spillover effect (work-family facilitation). We hypothesize that LMX influences work-family spillover via different mediators, rather than one all-encompassing mediator, such as empowerment. __Design/methodology/approach__ – We hypothesize that a good relationship with your supervisor (high LMX) diminishes work pressure, which in turn reduces work-family interference. Furthermore, we expect that a good relationship with your supervisor positively relates to the meaningfulness of work, as you could get more interesting work and more understanding of your role within the organization. In turn, this will increase work-family facilitation. These hypotheses are tested using a nation-wide survey among Dutch healthcare professionals. __Findings__ – Findings of Structural Equation Modeling indeed indicate that high quality LMX is negatively related to work-family interference, and that this is mediated by work pressure (53% explained variance). Furthermore, we found that a good relationship with your supervisor is positively related to meaningfulness of work, which in turn positively correlates to work-family facilitation (16% explained variance). __Originality/value__ – The added value of the paper lies in a) introducing two mediators – work pressure and meaningful work - which worked adequately both theoretically and empirically, instead of the sometimes problematic mediators empowerment and stress, b) a focus on healthcare professionals and c) using sophisticated techniques to test the model (Structural Equation Modeling with bootstrapping)

Healthy and Safe Workplaces in Health Care : examining the role of safety climate

Working in health care involves significant health and safety risks. This dissertation uses health care utilization data of Dutch employees working in health care as a starting point to investigate variation in employee health and safety across organizations. It furthermore examines the role safety climate plays in explaining these differences. Safety climate can be described as employees’ perceptions of the policies, procedures and practices as it relates to the value and importance of physical and psychological health and safety within the organization. The results show that an organization’s safety climate is related to various outcomes at the individual level, such as employee health and behavior. At the organizational level, the results demonstrate that health care organizations with a more positive safety climate also have lower absenteeism, presenteeism and employee health care utilization rates. Based on these findings, a multifaceted safety climate intervention program was developed and empirically tested in five health care organizations. The results of this study indicate that the multifaceted safety climate intervention positively influences safety climate perceptions and behavior in the workplace. The findings furthermore reveal that attention needs to be paid to the implementation process, especially to the role of the direct supervisor and the actual changes in the workplace the intervention brings about. This dissertation thus contributes to the scientific knowledge on the effects of safety climate and provides practical recommendations on how to improve safety climate and achieve healthy and safe workplaces in health care

Improving safety climate and behavior through a multifaceted intervention: Results from a field experiment

Interventions aimed at increasing priority for employee safety could lead to better safety climate and safety behavior of employees. However, current studies reporting on safety climate interventions lack diversity in contexts and settings, they focus mainly on supervisors and do not take into account the implementation process of the intervention. We aim to add to the safety literature by testing the effects of a multifaceted safety climate intervention using a field experimental design. We analyzed data of 520 health care employees in five organizations and studied the effects of the implementation process. Results showed that safety climate and behavior scores were significantly higher at post-intervention among the intervention group as compared to the control group, while there were no differences pre-intervention. Results also showed that within the intervention group, employees who experienced more positive changes to work procedures and positive attitudes and actions of their supervisor towards the intervention experienced higher post-intervention safety climate and safety behavior. This study presents a new, multifaceted safety climate intervention strategy that can be useful for improving safety climate and safety behavior. It also shows the importance of the implementation process when conducting safety climate interventions

Organizational climate and employee mental health outcomes: A systematic review of studies in health care organizations

__Abstract__ Background: In recent years, the high prevalence of mental health problems among health care workers has given rise to great concern. The academic literature suggests that employees’ perceptions of their work environment can play a role in explaining mental health outcomes. Purposes: We conducted a systematic review of the literature in order to answer the following two research questions: (1) how does organizational climate relate to mental health outcomes among employees working in health care organizations and (2) which organizational climate dimension is most strongly related to mental health outcomes among employees working in health care organizations. Methodology/Approach: Four search strategies plus inclusion and quality assessment criteria were applied to identify and select eligible studies. As a result, 21 studies were included in the review. Data were extracted from the studies to create a findings database. The contents of the studies were analyzed and categorized according to common characteristics. Findings: Perceptions of a good organizational climate were significantly associated with positive employee mental health outcomes such as lower levels of burnout, depression, and anxiety. More specifically, our findings indicate that group relationships between co-workers are very important in explaining the mental health of health care workers. There is also evidence that aspects of leadership and supervision affect mental health outcomes. Relationships between communication, or participation, and mental health outcomes were less clear. Practical Implications: If health care organizations want to address mental

Organisatieklimaat en geestelijke gezondheid van medewerkers

Dat geluk ook te maken heeft met gezondheid, is in een groot aantal wetenschappelijke onderzoeken bewezen. Hoewel mensen met een zorgberoep behoren tot een van de beroepsgroepen waarin het meeste geluk wordt ervaren, groeit de aandacht voor het voorkómen van geestelijke gezondheidsproblemen onder zorgmedewerkers. Uit de wetenschappelijke literatuur over dit onderwerp blijkt dat de perceptie die medewerkers hebben van hun werkomgeving een belangrijke rol speelt in hun geestelijke gezondheid. Om dit nader te onderzoeken, zijn de volgende onderzoeksvragen geformuleerd. Ten eerste: hoe is het organisatieklimaat binnen zorgorganisaties gerelateerd aan de geestelijke gezondheid van medewerkers? En ten tweede: welke dimensie van organisatieklimaat is het sterkst gerelateerd aan de geestelijke gezondheid van zorgmedewerkers? Om deze vragen te beantwoorden, is er een overzichtsstudie uitgevoerd. De resultaten laten zien dat percepties van een goed organisatieklimaat significant samenhangen met positieve geestelijke gezondheidsuitkomsten (zoals minder burn-out, depressie en ang