Joan Finegan

Impact of structural and psychological empowerment on job strain in nursing work settings: expanding Kanter's model.

Objective In this study, we tested an expanded model of Kanter’s structural empowerment, which specified the relationships among structural and psychological empowerment, job strain, and work satisfaction. Background Strategies proposed in Kanter’s empowerment theory have the potential to reduce job strain and improve employee work satisfaction and performance in current restructured healthcare settings. The addition to the model of psychological empowerment as an outcome of structural empowerment provides an understanding of the intervening mechanisms between structural work conditions and important organizational outcomes. Methods A predictive, nonexperimental design was used to test the model in a random sample of 404 Canadian staff nurses. The Conditions of Work Effectiveness Questionnaire, the Psychological Empowerment Questionnaire, the Job Content Questionnaire, and the Global Satisfaction Scale were used to measure the major study variables. Results Structural equation modelling analyses revealed a good fit of the hypothesized model to the data based on various fit indices (χ2 = 1140, df = 545, χ2/df ratio = 2.09, CFI = 0.986, RMSEA = 0.050). The amount of variance accounted for in the model was 58%. Staff nurses felt that structural empowerment in their workplace resulted in higher levels of psychological empowerment. These heightened feelings of psychological empowerment in turn strongly influenced job strain and work satisfaction. However, job strain did not have a direct effect on work satisfaction. Conclusions These results provide initial support for an expanded model of organizational empowerment and offer a broader understanding of the empowerment process.

The impact of workplace empowerment, organizational trust on staff nurses' work satisfaction and organizational commitment.

A predictive, nonexperimental design was used to test Kanters work empowerment theory in a random sample of 412 staff nurses selected from the professional registry list of a central Canadian province. Kanter argues that work environments that provide access to information, support, resources, and opportunity to learn and develop are empowering and influence employee work attitudes, productivity, and organizational effectiveness. Test results suggest that fostering environments that enhance perceptions of empowerment will have positive effects on organizational members and increase organizational effectiveness.

The impact of person and organizational values on organizational commitment

This study explored the relationship between personal values, organizational values, and organizational commitment. Participants from a large petrochemical company rated 24 values with respect to how important the value was to them and how important it was to the organization. They also completed Meyer and Allens commitment scale. The results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses found that commitment was predicted by the employees’ perception of organizational values. Furthermore, affective, normative and continuance commitment were each predicted by different clusters of values. This study highlights the importance of recognizing that values are multidimensional and that each value cluster may affect behaviour differently.

Organizational trust and empowerment in restructured healthcare settings. Effects on staff nurse commitment.

In todays dramatically restructured healthcare work environments, organizational trust is an increasingly important element in determining employee performance and commitment to the organization. The authors used Kanters model of workplace empowerment to examine the effects of organizational trust and empowerment on two types of organizational commitment. A predictive, nonexperimental design was used to test Kanters theory in a random sample of 412 Canadian staff nurses. Empowered nurses reported higher levels of organizational trust, which in turn resulted in higher levels of affective commitment. However, empowerment did not predict continuance commitment--that is, commitment to stay in the organization based on perceived lack of other job opportunities. Because past research has linked affective commitment to employee productivity, these results suggest that fostering environments that enhance perceptions of empowerment and organizational trust will have positive effects on organizational members and increase organizational effectiveness.

Testing Karasek's Demands-Control Model in restructured healthcare settings: effects of job strain on staff nurses' quality of work life.

Background Job strain among staff nurses has become an increasingly important concern in relationship to employee performance and commitment to the organization in current restructured healthcare settings. Objectives The purpose of this study was to test Karasek’s Demands-Control Model of job strain by examining the extent to which the degree of job strain in nursing work environments affects staff nurses’ perceptions of structural and psychological empowerment, work satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Method A predictive, nonexperimental design was used to test these relationships in a random sample of 404 Canadian staff nurses. Karasek’s Job Content Questionnaire, the Conditions of Work Effectiveness Questionnaire-II, Spreitzer’s Psychological Empowerment Questionnaire, Meyer and Allen’s Organizational Commitment Questionnaire, and the Global Satisfaction Scale were used to measure the major study variables. Results Nurses with higher level of job strain were found to be significantly more empowered, more committed to the organization, and more satisfied with their work. Conclusions Support for Karasek’s Demands/Control theory was established in this study.

The impact of personal values on judgments of ethical behaviour in the workplace

This study examines how our personal values influence our judgment of the morality of some workplace behaviours. Sixty-nine undergraduates were asked to rank order separately Rokeachs instrumental and terminal values in terms of their importance as guiding principles in their life. Subjects then read four scenarios, each of which described ethically questionable behaviour of the sort that might be encountered in business. They were then asked to rate whether or not the behaviour of the person described in the scenario was ethical, and whether or not they had any intentions to rectify the situation. People with different value hierarchies perceived the targeted behaviours differently. For example, subjects who valued “honesty” perceived the behaviour as more immoral than subjects who did not value honesty. While the ranking of the instrumental valuehonesty was the best predictor of peoples judgments about the morality of the behaviour, their ranking of the instrumental valueambition was the best predictor of their behavioural intentions.

Predictors of New Graduate Nurses' Workplace Well-being: Testing the Job Demands-resources Model

Background: New graduate nurses currently experience a stressful transition into the workforce, resulting in high levels of burnout and job turnover in their first year of practice. Purpose: This study tested a theoretical model of new graduate nurses’ worklife derived from the job demands–resources model to better understand how job demands (workload and bullying), job resources (job control and supportive professional practice environments), and a personal resource (psychological capital) combine to influence new graduate experiences of burnout and work engagement and, ultimately, health and job outcomes. Methodology/Approach: A descriptive correlational design was used to test the hypothesized model in a sample of newly graduated nurses (N = 420) working in acute care hospitals in Ontario, Canada. Data were collected from July to November 2009. Participants were mailed questionnaires to their home address using the Total Design Method to improve response rates. All variables were measured using standardized questionnaires, and structural equation modeling was used to test the model. Findings: The final model fit statistics partially supported the original hypothesized model. In the final model, job demands (workload and bullying) predicted burnout and, subsequently, poor mental health. Job resources (supportive practice environment and control) predicted work engagement and, subsequently, lower turnover intentions. Burnout also was a significant predictor of turnover intent (a crossover effect). Furthermore, personal resources (psychological capital) significantly influenced both burnout and work engagement. Practice Implications: The model suggests that managerial strategies targeted at specific job demands and resources can create workplace environments that promote work engagement and prevent burnout to support the retention and well-being of the new graduate nurse population.

Developing and testing a new measure of staff nurse clinical leadership: the clinical leadership survey.

AIM To test the psychometric properties of a newly developed measure of staff nurse clinical leadership derived from Kouzes and Posners model of transformational leadership. BACKGROUND While nurses have been recognized for their essential role in keeping patients safe, there has been little empirical research that has examined clinical leadership at the staff nurse level. METHODS   A non-experimental survey design was used to test the psychometric properties of the clinical leadership survey (CLS). Four hundred and eighty registered nurses (RNs) providing direct patient care in Ontario acute care hospitals returned useable questionnaires. RESULTS   Confirmatory factor analysis provided preliminary evidence for the construct validity for the new measure of staff nurse clinical leadership. Structural empowerment fully mediated the relationship between nursing leadership and staff nurse clinical leadership. CONCLUSION The results provide encouraging evidence for the construct validity of the CLS. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT Nursing administrators must create empowering work environments to ensure staff nurses have access to work structures which enable them to enact clinical leadership behaviours while providing direct patient care.

The antecedents and consequences of empowerment: a gender analysis.

Kanter argues that empowerment has many positive consequences. Not only do empowered employees work more effectively, but they are more likely to express positive attitudes toward their organization. Although support for Kanter’s model has been found in several studies of nurses, these studies have not explored the possibility of gender differences. Do men in nursing have the same access as women do to structures that lead to empowerment? Moreover, do men and women react differently to empowerment? To answer these questions, we sampled 412 nurses (195 men; 217 women) about their access to empowerment structures and their trust and commitment to their organization. We found no support for the suggestion that male nurses are less empowered because of their “token” status. Also, we found that the model predicted the responses of men and women equally. Our results suggest that empowerment provides an excellent way of enhancing organizational attitudes for both men and women.

The influence of nursing unit empowerment and social capital on unit effectiveness and nurse perceptions of patient care quality.

OBJECTIVE: This study tested a multilevel model examining the effects of work-unit structural empowerment and social capital on perceptions of unit effectiveness and nurses’ ratings of patient care quality. BACKGROUND: Structural empowerment and social capital are valuable resources for staff nurses that promote work effectiveness and high-quality patient care. No studies have examined social capital in nursing at the group level. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of 525 nurses in 49 nursing units in 25 acute care hospitals in Ontario was conducted to test the hypothesized multilevel model using structural equation modeling. RESULTS: Both unit-level structural empowerment and social capital had significant effects on unit effectiveness (&bgr; = .05 and &bgr; = .29, P < .05, respectively). Unit-level predictors explained 87.5% of level 2 variance in individual nurses’ ratings of patient care quality. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides a better understanding of how unit-level structural empowerment and social capital affect both unit- and individual-level outcomes.