Empowerment and Employee Well-Being: A Mediation Analysis Study

Occupational Well-Being of Multidisciplinary PHC Teams: Barriers/Facilitators and Negotiations to Improve Working Conditions

Well-being at work is one of the factors determining healthy work conditions and is perceived by workers as a positive psychological state. In this study, the concept of well-being at work was used together with occupational functionality (i.e., current health state, current work environment, and barriers/facilitators to implementing well-being at work), occupational risk perception, and proactivity/negotiations held by workers to improve working conditions. In this context, the objectives were to identify the socio-demographic and occupational characteristics independently associated with levels of well-being at work of the multidisciplinary PHC health team; detect barriers or facilitators resulting from the attitudes of colleagues, community members, and managers that influence the well-being at work of the multidisciplinary health team; and identify with whom and what reasons led health workers to become proactive and negotiate improved working conditions. This cross-sectional study addressed 338 health workers from the multidisciplinary teams of PHC outpatient services in the extreme south of Brazil. Multivariate linear regression models were adopted to analyze data. The results show various independent associations with levels of well-being at work. Nursing workers (technicians and nurses) more frequently expressed job commitment and job satisfaction. Difficulties in solving problems and performing work routines, and co-workers' attitudes directly influence the well-being of the PHC team members. Risk perception (physical and chemical) also influences well-being. Negotiations in which PHC managers engaged to improve working conditions appeared as a significant predictor of job commitment, job satisfaction, and job involvement. The results reveal that well-being at work is an important indicator of the potential of workers' proactivity in negotiating improved working conditions.

Recognition and rewards as moderators in the relationships between antecedents and performance of women teachers: evidence from India

Purpose

As teachers are considered “knowledge workers,” the present study explores teacher performance in schools. A particular emphasis is given to assessing the performance of female teachers in the rural part of South India.

Design/methodology/approach

After collecting data from 563 female teachers from four blocks in Nilgiris District (Ooty, Kotagiri, Coonoor and Gudalur) consisting of 37 government schools in the southern part of India, all the female teachers were surveyed, and the data were analyzed after checking the instrument's psychometric properties by performing confirmatory factor analysis. Hierarchical regression was employed to test the hypotheses.

Findings

The findings revealed that (1) empowerment, organizational communication and work–life balance (WLB) and recognition and rewards are positively and significantly related to teacher performance; (2) recognition and rewards moderate the relationship between (a) empowerment and performance, (b) organizational communication and performance, (c) WLB and performance, (d) organizational culture and performance and (e) quality of work-life (QWL) and performance.

Research limitations/implications

As with any survey research, common method bias and social desirability bias may be potential limitations. However, proper care is taken to minimize these biases. The findings from this study contribute to the growing literature on education and training. In addition, the study highlights the importance of creating a climate for empowerment, recognition and rewards to foster teacher performance.

Practical implications

The study helps administrators and policymakers to understand the antecedents of teacher performance and take necessary steps to motivate the teachers for superior performance.

Originality/value

The conceptual model the authors developed and tested is, according to the authors' knowledge, the first of the model's kind. A clear understanding of the predictors of teacher performance may guide the administrators and teaches in fostering performance in schools. The exclusive focus on female teachers is considered in this study because of the several problems the female teachers encounter in rural areas. Despite the disadvantages, female teachers perform well and contribute to students and the country as a whole.

Assessment of the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the perceptions of empowerment in midwifery practice scale-revised (PEMS-R-IT) in midwives

INTRODUCTION

A higher degree of midwives’ empowerment is associated with greater job satisfaction and better midwifery care outcomes for women and their families. Empowered midwives are able to better empower women who in turn have a positive influence on the midwives’ empowerment. The aim of this study was the translation, cultural adaptation, and validation of the perceptions of empowerment in midwifery scale-revised (PEMS-R) in a group of Italian midwives.

METHODS

The World Health Organization (WHO) method was adopted to achieve the PEMS-R Italian version. This process involved five steps: 1) forward translation, 2) expert panel translation, 3) back-translation, 4) pre-testing and cognitive interviewing, and 5) final version. The test’s internal consistency and validity were assessed by following international guidelines. Internal consistency was examined through Cronbach’s alpha (α) coefficient.

RESULTS

The PEMS-R-IT was administered to 147 Italian midwives from northern Italy. Factor analysis of the 19 items, extracted 4 factors that explained 74.96% of the variance. The Student’s t-test for independent samples was used to identify a possible correlation between a higher/lower perception of empowerment and: 1) the education level, and 2) the years of experience of recruited midwives. No statistically significant differences were obtained in either case. The PEMS-R-IT was found to have a good internal consistency for each of its 4 subscales.

CONCLUSIONS

The PEMS-R-IT is a valid and reliable tool, useful to assess midwives’ empowerment. It can be used in both clinical practice and research in order to investigate the level of empowerment of midwives within the Italian national context.

Effects of Employee Well-Being and Self-Efficacy on the Relationship between Coaching Leadership and Knowledge Sharing Intention: A Study of UK and US Employees

Knowledge acquisition practices are important to enterprises, particularly since market competition is intensifying. In recent years, organizations have begun to pay more attention to knowledge sharing practices. Many organizations are looking for methods to motivate their employees to actively share knowledge with other employees. This study uses the conservation of resources theory to examine coaching leadership as an antecedent-and employee well-being as a mediator-in facilitating knowledge sharing intention; it finds that self-efficacy is the boundary condition in these relations. We collected data in two waves and recruited participants online-full-time employees in the UK and US. Using a sample of 322 employees, we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis to test the validity of the results and used hierarchical multiple regression to examine the direct and interaction effects. Then, we used the bootstrapping method to test the indirect and moderated mediation effects. Our results show that coaching leadership is positively related to knowledge sharing intention, and employee well-being mediates the relationship. Moreover, self-efficacy positively moderates the direct and indirect effects. Our findings demonstrate that employee well-being is a mediating mechanism in the relationship between coaching leadership and knowledge sharing intention, with self-efficacy acting as a boundary condition.