Healthcare professionals with calling are less likely to be burned out: the role of social worth and career stage

Exploring the motivation of health professionals to engage with research at various career stages

BACKGROUND

Research is crucial for improved healthcare and better patient outcomes, but there is a current shortage of clinician-researchers who can connect research and practice in the health professions field. This study aimed to investigate the effect of career stage, previous training and involvement in research on health professionals' (HPs) motivations to engage in research while in public hospital clinical roles. HPs' perceived motivation concerning the importance, value, and barriers attributed to research during different career stages were examined.

METHODS

A mixed methods study design was adopted for this research. An online survey developed based on the Expectancy-Value-Cost (EVC) theory was distributed to HPs (doctors, nurses, midwives, and allied health professionals) in three North Queensland Public Hospitals. Data analysis included descriptive and inferential statistics for the quantitative data and content analysis for the qualitative text responses.

RESULTS

Three hundred and fifty-five responses were received. Prior research training and involvement in research influenced respondents' perceptions about the importance, attitude, motivators, and barriers to research. Attainment value was the overarching motivation for involvement in research and research training for all career stages and all professional HP groups. Positive attitude to research was significantly higher (P = 0.003) for the allied health group (27.45 ± 4.05), followed by the medical (26.30 ± 4.12) and then the nursing and midwifery group (25.62 ± 4.21). Perceived importance and attitude attributed to research were significantly higher (P < 0.05) for those who had research training (26.66 ± 3.26 and 28.21 ± 3.73) compared to those who did not have research training (25.77 ± 3.77 and 23.97 ± 3.53). Significantly higher (P < 0.05) perceptions of organisational and individual barriers were reported among early career (50.52 ± 7.30) respondents compared to their mid-career (48.49 ± 8.14) and late career (47.71 ± 8.36) counterparts.

CONCLUSION

The findings from this study provide valuable insights into the factors that influence HPs' motivation for research. The results underscore the importance of professional group, involvement in research, exposure to research training, career stage, gender, and organisational support in shaping HPs' attitudes, values, and perceived barriers to research. Understanding these factors can inform the development of targeted strategies to enhance research engagement among HPs and promote evidence-based practice in healthcare.

Job stressors and burnout among clinical nurses: a moderated mediation model of need for recovery and career calling

BACKGROUND

Burnout is a major concern in healthcare professions. Although theory and empirical evidence support the relationship between job stressors and burnout, the question remains how and when the job stressors are related to burnout. Based on conservation of resources theory and effort recovery model, the current study aimed to provide a deeper understanding of the effect of job stressors on burnout by investigating the mediating role of need for recovery and the moderating role of career calling.

METHODS

A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among 709 nurses enrolled from eight public hospitals in China. The Work Stressors Scale, Psychological Detachment Scale, Brief Calling Scale, and Maslach Burnout Inventory were used to collect data. Hierarchical regression analysis with bootstrapping procedure was performed to test the proposed model.

RESULTS

The results showed that need for recovery mediated the job stressors-burnout relationship, and that high career calling buffered against the relationships between job stressors and need for recovery and burnout. Furthermore, the result revealed a moderated mediation model that career calling buffered the indirect effect of job stressors on burnout through need for recovery.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that environmental demands and personal resource are important antecedents of nurses' burnout. Career calling as personal resources can serve as a protective factor that guards against burnout. Thus, nursing managers can reduce nurse burnout by focusing on effective strategies related to recovery experiences, as well as investing in training career calling.

Linkage of calling and burnout among Chinese airline pilots: The role of psychological capital and organizational identification

Objectives. The burnout of airline pilots has an extremely adverse impact on their physical and mental state, work efficiency, and the safe operation of airlines, and is thus an important issue in occupational safety and health. Therefore, it is crucial to identify the factors that may reduce burnout among airline pilots. Drawing on conservation of resources theory, the present study investigates the relationships between calling, psychological capital, organizational identification and burnout in order to understand the mechanisms underlying pilot burnout. Method. A cross-sectional survey was conducted to measure calling, psychological capital, organizational identification and burnout among a sample consisting of 242 Chinese commercial airline pilots (M_age = 31.60 years, SD_age = 6.44). Correlation analysis, mediation analysis and moderated analysis were conducted. Results. The results showed that calling has a direct and negative effect on pilot burnout, and an indirect effect on burnout through influencing psychological capital. Moreover, organizational identification was found to positively moderate the negative relationship between calling and pilot burnout. Conclusion. This study contributes to deepening the theoretical research on burnout, and provides empirical evidence for effective intervention in the burnout of airline pilots, which is beneficial to reduce pilot human error and ensure flight safety. Future research directions are also discussed.

Managing diverse workforce: How to safeguard skilled migrants’ self-efficacy and commitment

This study aims to uncover the organizational and contextual factors undermining skilled migrants’ professional development and their contributions to host economies. Drawing from the Conservation of Resources Theory, this research developed an integrated model to investigate the effects of most prevalent internal and external factors of burnout and limited career alternatives on skilled migrants’ organizational commitment. The model incorporates mediating roles of professional self-efficacy and career turnover intention to demonstrate how depletion of resources through burnout leads to further resource losses by negatively impacting employees' intentions about their career continuity and professional self-efficacy and, ultimately, undermines their organizational commitment. This research provides managers of cross-cultural workplaces with insights into the critical role of supportive resources in leveraging the untapped intellectual capital brought to host organizations by skilled migrants. This study suggests that the availability of career options can maximize skilled migrants’ contributions to organizations.

Career Calling and Task Performance: The Moderating Role of Job Demand

The Work as a Calling Theory (WCT) predicts that career calling fosters job performance. A quantitative summary of previous work supports this prediction and shows that the relation between calling and job performance is moderate in size ( ρ = .29, K = 11, N = 2286) . Yet, the environmental conditions that modulate this relation are completely unknown. According to an interactionist perspective, we argue that calling may predict performance only when job demand is low. Results of a multisource study on salesmen and managers dyads ( N= 965) partially supported this prediction. We observed that highly demanding work environments, characterized by pressure to perform, high workload, and unachievable deadlines, suppress the positive relation between calling and self-reported performance. Job demand directly impairs performance and suppresses the positive effect of career calling. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

How Does Mentoring Affect the Creative Performance of Mentors: The Role of Personal Learning and Career Stage

Mentoring has become a vital strategy for improving employee performance and organizational development. A few previous literature studies made a detailed study on the benefits of mentees. The creative performance of mentors that improves from mentoring, however, only draws little attention. This article extends this line of inquiry by shedding light on whether, how, and when mentoring affects the creative performance of mentors, which is a crucial topic in research and practice. Based on the conservation of the resources theory (COR) and relational cultural theory (RCT), this article investigates the influence mechanism and boundary conditions of mentoring on the creative performance of mentors by conducting a multisource empirical study in China. The result shows that there is a positive impact of mentoring on the creative performance of mentors. We also reveal that the relationship is mediated by personal learning, especially the relational job learning dimension. Furthermore, this article finds that the career stage of mentors moderates the relationship between mentoring and personal learning, namely, the relationship is stronger among mentors at the later career stage. The empirical findings show implications for an understanding of how the creative behavior of mentors benefits mentoring and can be beneficial for developing the targeted measures to promote competitive advantages for organizations.

Stigma hurts: exploring employer and employee perceptions of tattoos and body piercings in Nigeria

Purpose

This study draws on social stigma and prejudice to examine the perceptions and beliefs of managers and employees regarding visible tattoos and body piercings, as well as the impact they have on potential employment and human resource management in the global South, using Nigeria as the research context.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses a qualitative research approach, drawing on data from 43 semi-structured interviews with employees and managers in Nigeria.

Findings

Contrary to the popular opinion that tattoos and body piercings are becoming more accepted and mainstream in society, this study finds that some Nigerian employers and employees may stigmatise and discriminate against people with visible tattoos and body piercings. The findings of this study suggest that beliefs about tattoos are predicated on ideologies as well as religious and sociocultural values, which then influence corporate values.

Research limitations/implications

The extent to which the findings of this research can be generalised is constrained by the limited sample and scope of the research.

Practical implications

Religious and sociocultural preconceptions about people with visible tattoos and body piercings have negative implications for the recruitment and employment of such people and could prevent organisations from hiring and keeping talented employees. This implies that talented employees might experience prejudice at job interviews, preventing them from gaining employment. Furthermore, stigmatising and discriminating against people with visible tattoos and body piercings may lead to the termination of employment of talented employees, which could negatively affect organisational productivity and growth.

Originality/value

This study provides an insight into the employment relations regarding tattoos and body piercing in Nigeria. The study highlights the need for mild beliefs and positive perceptions about people with visible tattoos and unconventional body piercings. There should be a general tolerance of the individual preference for body art and physical appearance, and this tolerance should be incorporated in organisational policies, which are enactments of corporate culture.