A longitudinal examination of nurses’ need satisfaction profiles: A latent transition analysis

A longitudinal person-centered investigation of the multidimensional nature of employees' perceptions of challenge and hindrance demands at work

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

This research relies on a combination of variable- and person-centered approaches to help improve our understanding of the dimensionality of job demands by jointly considering employees' global levels of job demands, exposure and their specific levels of exposure to challenge and hindrance demands.

DESIGN AND METHODS

We relied on a sample of 442 workers who completed a questionnaire twice over three months. Our analyses sought to identify the nature of the job demands profiles experienced by these workers, to document the stability of these profiles over time, and to assess their associations with theoretically-relevant outcomes (i.e., work engagement, job boredom, problem-solving pondering, work-related rumination, proactive health behaviors, and sleep quality and quantity). Furthermore, we examined whether these profiles and associations differed as a function of working remotely or onsite.

RESULTS

Five profiles were identified and found to be highly stable over time: Globally Exposed, Not Exposed, Not Exposed but Challenged, Exposed but Not Challenged, and Mixed. These profiles shared clear associations with all outcomes, with the most adaptive outcomes associated with the Exposed but Not Challenged profile, whereas the most detrimental ones were observed in the Mixed profile. However, none of these results differed across employees working onsite and those working remotely.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings have theoretical and practical implications regarding the effects of work characteristics on employees' functioning.

Psychological need satisfaction across work and personal life: an empirical test of a comprehensive typology

Introduction

A comprehensive typology of the satisfaction of psychological needs at work and in personal life was developed and tested. The typology proposes five scenarios (Enriched, Middling, Impoverished, Work-Fulfilled, and Personal Life-Fulfilled) accounting for various profiles of employees showing distinct configurations of global and specific levels of need satisfaction at work and in personal life.

Methods

The scenarios were tested in a sample of 1,024 employees.

Results

Using latent profile analysis, five profiles were identified that were consistent with four or the five scenarios, either aligned (Globally Satisfied, Globally Unsatisfied) or misaligned (Globally Satisfied at Work with High Relatedness, Globally Satisfied in Personal Life with High Autonomy, and Globally Satisfied in Personal Life with Low Autonomy) across domains. No profile corresponding to the Middling scenario was observed.

Discussion

The results indicate that perceived job and individual characteristics predicted membership in distinct profiles. More importantly, unlike the profile Globally Unsatisfied, the profile Globally Satisfied contributed substantially to higher well-being (vitality and lower psychological distress), and to more favorable job attitudes (job satisfaction and lower turnover intentions) and behaviors (self-rated job performance and lower absenteeism, presenteeism, and work injuries). Furthermore, two of the misaligned profiles were also substantially associated with highly desirable outcome levels.

On the Combined Role of Work Engagement and Burnout Among Novice Nurses: A Longitudinal Person-Centered Analysis

This study examined the profiles taken by global and specific facets of work engagement and burnout among a sample of novice ( M tenure = 3.77 years) nurses ( n = 570; 88.4% females; M age = 29.3 years). This study also investigated the role of psychological need satisfaction in the prediction of profile membership, and the implications of these profiles for attitudinal (job satisfaction), behavioral (in-role and extra-role performance, absenteeism, and presenteeism) and health (perceived health difficulties) outcomes. Latent profile analyses revealed six profiles: High Global Engagement and Low Global Burnout, Moderately High Global Engagement and Moderately Low Global Burnout, Low Dedication and Efficacy and Highly Cynical, Dedicated but Exhausted Burned-Out, Low Efficacy Burned-Out, and Very Low Global Engagement and Very High Global Burnout. Although these profiles were replicated over a 1-year period, profile membership was only weakly stable. The most beneficial outcomes were observed in the High Global Engagement and Low Global Burnout profile, and the most detrimental in the Very Low Global Engagement and Very High Global Burnout profile. Need satisfaction was also associated with profile membership, although associations were stronger for global levels of need satisfaction than for specific levels of autonomy, competence, and relatedness need satisfaction.

Educational contexts that nurture students' psychological needs predict low distress and healthy lifestyle through facilitated self-control

Psychological distress and unhealthy lifestyle behaviors are highly prevalent among undergraduate students. Importantly, numerous longitudinal studies show that these phenomena rise significantly during the first months of college and remain high thereafter. However, research identifying theory-driven mechanisms to explain these phenomena is lacking. Using two complementary statistical approaches (person- and variable-centered), this study assesses basic psychological needs (BPNs) and self-control as possible explanatory factors underlying the association between student's educational experience and multiple health-related outcomes. A total of 2450 Canadian undergraduates participated in this study study involving two time points (12 months apart; NTime1 = 1783; NTime2 = 1053), of which 386 participated at both measurement occasions. First, results from person-centered analyses (i.e., latent profile and transition analyses) revealed three profiles of need-satisfaction and frustration in students that were replicated at both time points. Need-supportive conditions within college generally predicted membership in the most adaptive profile. In turn, more adaptive profiles predicted higher self-control, lower levels of psychological distress (anxiety, depression), and healthier lifestyle behaviors (physical activity, fruit and vegetable consumption). Second, results from variable-centered analyses (i.e., structural equation modeling) showed that the association between students' BPNs and health-related outcomes was mediated by self-control. In other words, high need satisfaction and low need frustration were associated with higher self-regulatory performance at Time 1, which in turn predicted a more adaptive functioning at Time 2. Overall, these findings help clarify the mechanisms underlying the association between college educational climate and students' health-related functioning.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-022-04019-5.

On the global and specific nature of psychological need satisfaction and work motivation in predicting employees' wellbeing: a self-determination theory perspective

Using data from 708 French-Canadian nurses, the present study relies on self-determination theory (SDT) and its proposed motivation mediation model to examine the associations between need satisfaction, work motivation, and various manifestations of psychological wellbeing (work satisfaction, emotional exhaustion, and turnover intentions). To increase the precision and accuracy of these analyses, we relied on analytic approaches that explicitly account for the dual global/specific nature of both work motivation and need satisfaction. Results revealed that nurses' global psychological need satisfaction, and their specific autonomy and competence satisfaction, were positively associated with their global self-determined work motivation and specific intrinsic motivation. In turn, global self-determined work motivation and specific intrinsic motivation were associated with more desirable outcome levels. Nurses' global need satisfaction and specific autonomy satisfaction were also directly associated with more desirable outcome levels. Our results provided support for a partially mediated version of SDT's motivation mediation model.

Perceived Stress and Wellbeing in Romanian Teachers during the COVID‐19 pandemic: The Intervening Effects of Job Crafting and Problem‐Focused Coping

This study examines the relationship between teacher perceived stress during the online period of schooling in the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, and their wellbeing, with job crafting as a mediator, The study also examines the role of problem‐focused coping as a moderator in the stress‐job crafting relationship. A sample of 360 teachers, 347 females, and 13 males, aged 21–63 years answered to an online survey from October to December 2020. Regression analyses were employed to the data. The results show that the conditional indirect effects of stress on wellbeing are statistically significant for low problem‐focused coping (β = −.06, SE = 0.02, p < .001), whereas for high problem‐focused coping the effects are not statistically significant (β = .01, SE = 0.01, p > .05). The effects of stress on wellbeing are mediated by job crafting for teachers who score low on problem‐focused coping.

During the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemics, only a small number of teachers have used problem‐focused coping.

For teachers who are low on problem‐focused coping, job crafting is one of the ways through which they develop well‐being under stress conditions.

Using low problem‐focused coping was helpful for teachers because they had no means to change the situation and all they could do was adapt to preserve their mental health status.

Predicting employee telecommuting preferences and job outcomes amid COVID-19 pandemic: a latent profile analysis

In this two-study research using latent profile analysis (LPA), we investigated intra-individual combinations of conscientiousness, autonomy, self-regulation, and extraversion. Based on these combinations, we designed profiles and explored telecommuting preferences and job outcomes of employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Study 1, we recruited 199 participants (77 females, ages ranging from 18 to 65). Results of this study revealed three profiles. One profile scored high on all of the variables and displayed preferences for working on-site more than the other profiles. Additionally, this profile showed higher work engagement, job satisfaction, and perceived productivity than the other two profiles. To validate these findings, we conducted a second study with a sample of 492 participants (169 females; age ranged from 18 to 65). The results yielded five profiles, one scoring high on all of the variables. Similar to Study 1, this profile exhibited higher work engagement, job satisfaction, and perceived productivity than the other four profiles. Individuals in this profile preferred to work on-site compared to individuals in other profiles. Our findings add to the research demonstrating the importance of personality characteristics for telecommuting preferences and work-related outcomes.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-021-02496-8.

Explaining the Negative Consequences of Organizational Dehumanization

Abstract. Organizational dehumanization (OD), defined as employees' perceptions of being treated as mere tools by their organization, has been shown to negatively affect employees and organizations. To explain such detrimental effects, scholars have argued that OD might thwart employees' fundamental psychological needs. Yet, evidence of this mechanism remains empirically nonexistent. Filling this gap, this research aims at investigating the mediating role of psychological need thwarting in the relationships between OD and employees' well-being and attitudes. Based on a cross-sectional study ( N = 340) and a two-wave study (3 months apart; N = 603), the results indicate that OD thwarts employees' psychological needs which are, in turn, negatively related to their well-being (psychological strains, absenteeism, and job satisfaction) and attitudes (turnover intentions and affective commitment).

Psychological and relational conditions for job crafting to occur

This study aimed to provide a wider understanding of the determinants of job crafting by jointly considering employee well- and ill-being (work engagement and exhaustion) and socio-environmental factors (supervisor and colleague support) as possible levers to promote job crafting. A secondary goal of this research was to simultaneously explore the multidimensionality of work engagement and the potentially differentiated associations between the different facets of work engagement and job crafting behaviours. Questionnaire surveys were collected among 533 workers from various organizations located in France. Results from preliminary analyses showed the superiority of a Bifactor Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (B-ESEM) representation of work engagement when compared to alternative representations of ratings of this multidimensional construct. Specifically, employees' ratings of work engagement simultaneously reflected a global work engagement construct, which co-existed with specific vigor, dedication and absorption components. Results from a predictive model indicated that the different facets of work engagement held differentiated relations with job crafting behaviours, while exhaustion did not significantly relate to any job crafting behaviours. Colleague and supervisor support also held differentiated relations with the demands-related job crafting behaviours, while both forms of support were associated with employees' seeking more job resources. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Workaholism, presenteeism, work-family conflicts and personal and work outcomes: Testing a moderated mediation model

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

While research suggests that nurses who experience work-family conflicts (WFC) are less satisfied and perform less well, these negative outcomes may be more important for some nurses. This study proposes a mediated moderation model wherein the interaction between two individual characteristics, workaholism and presenteeism, relates to family life satisfaction and work performance with WFC mediating these relationships.

BACKGROUND

Because a limited number of nursing studies have examined the potential outcomes of workaholism and presenteeism, we extend past research to address the question of how workaholism and presenteeism affect nurses' functioning.

DESIGN

We used a cross-sectional questionnaire survey design to test our hypotheses. STROBE guidelines for cross-sectional research were followed in designing and reporting this study.

METHODS

A total of 419 nurses completed measures of workaholism, presenteeism, WFC, family life satisfaction and work performance.

RESULTS

Results revealed that the relationships between workaholism and outcomes (family life satisfaction and work performance) through WFC were stronger among nurses characterised by high levels of presenteeism.

CONCLUSIONS

These results revealed that high presenteeism may exacerbate the negative relationships of workaholism to family life satisfaction and work performance through WFC.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

Healthcare organisations and managers should consider addressing work environment factors in their efforts to reduce the negative outcomes (e.g., low family satisfaction and work performance) of nurses' workaholism, presenteeism and WFC.