High performance work practices and employees well-being: The role of work intensification and self-efficacy

Abstract

The well-being of healthcare workers is a major concern for healthcare organizations due to their significant impacts on performance and productivity (Ta‘Amnha, Samawi, Bwaliez, & Magableh, 2021). Therefore, healthcare organizations employ various strategies and practices to create and maintain healthy and positive working environments for their workers. In this study, our focus was on the impact of high-performance work practices (HPWPs) on the healthcare workers‘ health and well-being. HPWPs are a collection of several interdependent human resource (HR) practices that are employed to enhance the performance of organizations. Even though there is no consensus pertaining to the components of the HPWPs framework, typically it integrates job autonomy, team working, staff training, performance management, supportive leadership, and other capability-enhancing practices. HPWPs boost positive job attitudes and behaviors in organizations that therefore lead to positive organizational outcomes. However, some research revealed that HPWPs increase the work intensification among International Online Conference (November 25, 2021) ―CORPORATE GOVERNANCE: FUNDAMENTAL AND CHALLENGING ISSUES IN SCHOLARLY RESEARCH‖ 114 workers. This is because HPWPs require exerting intense effort from employees that therefore leave them unable sometimes to perform all their jobs‘ requirements effectively. This standpoint receives very limited attention in the literature; therefore this research aims to contribute to filling this gap by examining whether the HPWPs increase employees‘ feeling of work intensification and whether this situation leads to destructive consequences on the employees‘ health and well-being. In addition to the organizational resources, this study focuses also on the role of personal resources (i.e., self-efficacy) on the employees‘ health and well-being. Self-efficacy refers to the individual believing that he or she is able to perform their tasks effectively (Bandura, 1997). We proposed that employees with a high level of self-efficacy are more likely to meet their jobs requirements more effectively and experience less work intensification (Ta‘Amnha, Bwaliez, & Magableh, 2021). We assumed that both organizational resources and personal resources work hand in hand in improving employees‘ experiences. Therefore, we employ two theories to underpin this research and interpret its results including job demand resource model (JD-R model) (Bakker, Demerouti, & Euwema, 2005), and behavioral plasticity theory (Pierce, Gardner, Dunham, & Cummings, 1993). The former assumes that every job has its specific risk factors associated with job stress or burnout. These factors are grouped into two categories namely; job demands and job resources that institute a holistic model that can be adopted to explain several occupational settings regardless of the associated demands and resources. Job demands refer ―to those physical, social, or organizational aspects of the job that require sustained physical or mental effort and are therefore associated with certain physiological and psychological costs‖ (Bakker et al., 2005, p. 170). Whereas job resources refer to ―those physical, psychological, social, or organizational aspects of the job that (a) are functional in achieving work goals, (b) reduce job demands and the associated physiological and psychological costs, or (c) stimulate personal growth and development‖ (Bakker et al., 2005, p. 170). According to the JD-R model, there are several and diverse job resources that represent a buffer for numerous and various job demands. Job demands and job resources in any given organization are determined by the jobs design and characteristics. We assumed that the resource offered by organizations to their employees through HPWPs enhance their well-being and health and their ability to deal with their jobs‘ challenges. The moderating effects of self-efficacy in this study were explained via the behavioral plasticity theory (Pierce et al., 1993). This theory assumes that the changes in individuals‘ behaviors are caused by exposure to external stimuli. According to the behavioral plasticity theory, people with low self-efficacy are more likely to be influenced by the workplaces conditions and circumstances. They are more vulnerable to the lack of organizational supports but more malleable to the increase International Online Conference (November 25, 2021) ―CORPORATE GOVERNANCE: FUNDAMENTAL AND CHALLENGING ISSUES IN SCHOLARLY RESEARCH‖ 115 in organizational support (Turban & Keon, 1993). On the other hand, individuals with a high level of self-efficacy are less affected by external influences (Liu, Cho, & Putra, 2017). They are more persistent and determined to reach their goals through a high level of engagement compared with low self-efficacy employees. Thus, they feel less stressed from their demanding work that therefore improves their well-being and protects their health, thus they become more resilient. A quantitative survey was used to collect the research data from the healthcare workers who are working in Jordanian hospitals. The questionnaire was administrated in Arabic. All measures were translated from English to Arabic using a standard translation procedure (i.e., back translation) (Brislin, 1980) to ensure the content validity of the measures. 238 useable surveys were collected through a convenience sampling approach The results of this project revealed the pivotal role of healthcare institutions in enhancing the health and well-being of their workers, and ultimately their performance by offering more support and resources, particularly during the current COVID-19 pandemic. This is because healthcare workers suffer from a high level of stress and anxiety caused by the fear of getting infected, more family pressure, especially after closing schools and nurseries. These pressures may affect their satisfaction at work, and increase the feeling of job burnout that thus impact their performance negatively, therefore offering several sorts of support for those workers enable them to deal with COVID-19 challenges more effectively and experience more satisfaction in their jobs (Ta‘Amnha, Bwaliez, Magableh, Samawi, & Mdanat, 2021). We found that by offering more HPWPs, healthcare workers experience better health and well-being, however, we also found that work intensification may reduce the positive impact of HPWPs. As expected, self-efficacy increases the positive impact of HPWPs on healthcare workers and reduces the impact of work intensification. In conclusion, healthcare organizations can get the best out of their workers by offering them more organizational resources and enhance their personal resources.