A Longitudinal Person-Centered Perspective on Positive and Negative Affect at Work

A longitudinal investigation of structural empowerment profiles among healthcare employees

PURPOSE

Research on structural empowerment has typically adopted a variable-centered perspective, which is not ideal to study the combined effects of structural empowerment components. This person-centered investigation aims to enhance our knowledge about the configurations, or profiles, of healthcare employees' perceptions of the structural empowerment dimensions present in their workplace (opportunity, information, support, and resources). Furthermore, this study considers the replicability and stability of these profiles over a period of 2 years, and their outcomes (perceived quality of care, and positive and negative affect).

DESIGN

Participants completed the same self-reported questionnaires twice, 2 years apart.

METHODS

A sample of 633 healthcare employees (including a majority of nurses and nursing assistants) participated. Latent transition analyses were performed.

RESULTS

Five profiles were identified: Low Empowerment, High Information, Normative, Moderately High Empowerment, and High Empowerment. Membership into the Normative and Moderately High Empowerment profiles demonstrated a high level of stability over time (79.1% to 83.2%). Membership in the other profiles was either moderately stable (43.5% for the High Empowerment profile) or relatively unstable (19.7% to 20.4% for the Low Empowerment and High Information profiles) over time. More desirable outcomes (i.e., higher positive affect and quality of care, and lower negative affect) were observed in the High Empowerment profile.

CONCLUSIONS

These results highlight the benefits of high structural empowerment, in line with prior studies suggesting that structural empowerment can act as a strong organizational resource capable of enhancing the functioning of healthcare professionals. These findings additionally demonstrate that profiles characterized by the highest or lowest levels of structural empowerment were less stable over time than those characterized by more moderate levels.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

From an intervention perspective, organizations and managers should pay special attention to employees perceiving low levels of structural empowerment, as they experience the worst outcomes. In addition, they should try to maintain high levels of structural empowerment within the High Empowerment profile, as this profile is associated with the most desirable consequences. Such attention should be fruitful, considering the instability of the High Empowerment and Low Empowerment profiles over time.

REGISTRATION

NCT04010773 on ClinicalTrials.gov (4 July, 2019).

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.

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.

Helping others not always helps ourselves: the relationship between victim incivility and emergency workers' burnout through work-to-family conflict

Purpose

This study aims to analyse whether and when victim incivility may be related to work-to-family conflict and then burnout among emergency workers.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 304 Italian emergency workers from five firehouses and six emergency rooms completed questionnaires, examining: victim incivility, work-to-family conflict, social support seeking and burnout symptoms. Descriptive analyses, confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation models were conducted.

Findings

Victim incivility was positively associated with burnout symptoms, both directly and indirectly, as mediated by work-to-family conflict. Additionally, social support seeking exacerbated (rather than mitigated) the impact of work-to-family conflict on burnout symptoms.

Practical implications

Organisations can greatly benefit from implementing family-friendly practices and providing their workers with training programmes on how to deal with difficult victims.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the existing literature on workplace incivility and work–life interface by supporting for the first time the notion that victim incivility can spill over into emergency workers' family domain and by clarifying how and when victim incivility is related to burnout symptoms.