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1 – 10 of over 121000Gregory Stock and Christopher McDermott
The authors examine how physician staffing, human capital and knowledge spillovers are related to multiple dimensions of hospital operational and financial performance at the…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors examine how physician staffing, human capital and knowledge spillovers are related to multiple dimensions of hospital operational and financial performance at the organizational level.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use a data set assembled from multiple sources for more than 1,300 US hospitals and employ hierarchical linear regression to test this study’s hypotheses. The authors use multiple quality, efficiency and financial measures of performance for these hospitals.
Findings
The authors find that higher levels of staffing, skills and knowledge spillovers associated with physicians were positively associated with multiple dimensions of hospital performance. The authors find linear and nonlinear relationships between experience and performance, with the relationships primarily negative, and nonlinear relationships between spillovers and quality performance.
Practical implications
Hospital managers should consider increasing physician staffing levels if possible. In addition, the overall Final MIPS Score from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services might be included as a factor in determining which physicians practice in a hospital. Finally, if possible, encouraging physicians to practice at multiple hospitals will likely be beneficial to hospital performance.
Originality/value
This study’s findings are original in that they explore how physician-specific staffing and human capital, which have received comparatively little attention in the literature, are related to several different dimensions of hospital-level operational and financial performance. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is also the first to examine the relationship between the construct of physician knowledge spillovers and hospital-level operational and financial performance.
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John De Nobile, John McCormick and Katherine Hoekman
– This paper reports two related studies of relationships between organizational communication and occupational stress of staff members in Catholic primary schools.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper reports two related studies of relationships between organizational communication and occupational stress of staff members in Catholic primary schools.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from both studies were obtained using survey questionnaires. Participants were staff members of Catholic diocesan primary schools in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Queensland, Australia. Research hypotheses were tested using correlation and multiple regression analyses.
Findings
Ten organizational communication factors and four occupational stress domains were identified. Several organizational communication variables were found to be predictors of occupational stress in four identified domains.
Practical implications
The findings provide implications for school administrators in relation to staff member access to formal communication channels, openness and approachability of principals, and support giving between school administration and staff, as well as among staff.
Originality/value
The studies used a conceptual framework of organizational communication that is unique and comprehensive. The paper contributes new knowledge in an area that has received little attention, namely, communication in schools.
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Alan Leyin and Eleanor Wakerly
In the context of a staff development programme, the relationships between work‐related stress, staff support and job satisfaction were explored among staff groups in two…
Abstract
In the context of a staff development programme, the relationships between work‐related stress, staff support and job satisfaction were explored among staff groups in two residential assessment and treatment facilities for people with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour. Although overall support was relatively high for both formal and informal supports, only the informal supports from colleagues were negatively correlated with ratings of work‐related stress. Work‐related stress and job satisfaction were shown to be independent factors, and thus levels of stress could not be inferred from overall ratings of job satisfaction, or vice versa. The study identified a potentially vulnerable group of staff who reported relatively high job satisfaction but also some degree of stress.
Suzanne Grossman, Lisa Jane Erwin, Ana Martinez-Donate, Denise E. Agosto, Mark Winston, Nancy Epstein and Ann C. Klassen
Public libraries can help immigrants adjust to life in the USA, including maintaining health and well-being. The purpose of this study was to understand how immigrants use public…
Abstract
Purpose
Public libraries can help immigrants adjust to life in the USA, including maintaining health and well-being. The purpose of this study was to understand how immigrants use public libraries and how library staff provide health-related information and services for immigrant audiences.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used semistructured interviews with library staff (n = 9) and immigrant library patrons (n = 10), representing multiple first languages and countries of origin from two different library locations within a large public library system in a US mid-Atlantic city.
Findings
Staff reported offering many health-related programs and services, but only one of the 10 patron respondents had used them. Patrons more commonly used the library in ways indirectly related to health (e.g. learning English) than direct health-related services. Staff reported comfort interacting with immigrant patrons, but lacked consensus on navigating language barriers and determining community needs.
Research limitations/implications
This qualitative study provides insights from a specific geographic and cultural setting. It focused on immigrants using the library and may have excluded vulnerable populations of immigrants who encounter barriers to using the library. Future research and practice should focus on how public libraries can better meet the health information needs of immigrant populations, including navigating controversial social and political topics, as well as emerging health-related information during a pandemic.
Originality/value
Public health practitioners often overlook public libraries as community collaborators. This research identifies that while there is important and essential work happening in public libraries to improve immigrant health, more can be done, especially in collaboration with public health professionals.
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Janne Myhre, Wenche Karin Malmedal, Susan Saga, Joan Ostaszkiewicz and Sigrid Nakrem
The purpose of this study is to explore the factors that influence the reporting of adverse events related to elder abuse and neglect in nursing homes from nursing home leaders'…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the factors that influence the reporting of adverse events related to elder abuse and neglect in nursing homes from nursing home leaders' perspectives. Good leadership requires in-depth knowledge of the care and service provided and the ability to identify and address problems that can arise in clinical practice.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative explorative design with data triangulation was used. The sample consisted of 43 participants from two levels of nursing home leadership, representing six municipalities and 21 nursing homes in Norway. Focus group interviews were undertaken with 28 ward leaders and individual interviews with 15 nursing home directors. The constant comparative method was used for the analyses.
Findings
Both ward leaders and nursing home directors described formal and informal ways of obtaining information related to elder abuse and neglect. There were differences between their perceptions of the feasibility of obtaining formal reports about abuse in the nursing home. Three main categories of influencing factors emerged: (1) organisation structural factors, (2) cultural factors and (3) abuse severity factors. A main finding is that in its present form, the Norwegian adverse event reporting system is not designed to detect abuse and neglect.
Originality/value
This paper provides an in-depth understanding of patient safety and factors related to reporting elder abuse in nursing homes in Norway.
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Shun Ying, Jin Hooi Chan and Xiaoguang Qi
The paper aims to identify the emergent themes of hotel guests’ satisfaction, to compare the distribution of the attributes of the themes between Chinese and North American guests…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to identify the emergent themes of hotel guests’ satisfaction, to compare the distribution of the attributes of the themes between Chinese and North American guests and to compare the importance of the themes for different satisfaction levels between Chinese and North American guests from a cross-cultural perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
By adopting Python (a computer language), the word-frequency method was used to identify emergent themes of hotel guests’ satisfaction. Topic modeling was adopted to compare the attributes distribution of each theme and the features of satisfaction between Chinese and North American guests.
Findings
First, three themes were identified including functionality, staff and price. Functionality can be further categorized into five subthemes, namely, room, travel, food, environment and hotel facility. Second, the distribution of the attributes of the themes between Chinese and North American guests was compared from a cross-cultural perspective. Chinese guests tend to mention both lifestyles- and social norms–related attributes and expect personalized service, while North American guests mainly prefer to describe lifestyle-related attributes and prefer standardized service. Third, the study compared the changing importance of the themes (functionality, staff and price) for different satisfaction levels between Chinese and North American guests. As the satisfaction level decreases, the importance of functionality decreases, that of staff increases and that of price remain stable for Chinese guests. In contrast, the importance of each theme has fluctuated mildly from the high to the low satisfaction level for North American guests.
Practical implications
Proposed managerial implications are to highlight lifestyle- and social norms-related attributes, as well as personalized service for Chinese guests. However, lifestyle-related attributes and standardized service should be facilitated for North American guests. Specific suggestions were made to help improve hotel performance such as the good performance of functional-related attributes, which could enhance satisfaction and better staff performance, which would reduce dissatisfaction.
Originality/value
By mining big data, this study investigated hotel guests’ satisfaction from a dynamic instead of a static perspective. This study provides some rare insights into differences in key attributes influencing satisfaction levels of Chinese versus North American guests staying in luxury hotels in China. This study also takes a novel approach to examine the dynamics of the importance of the various themes at different satisfaction levels, and contrast these dynamics between Chinese and North American guests. The findings offer valuable insight into market segmentation and management in the hospitality industry.
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Does staffing contribute to organizational effectiveness and sustained competitive advantage, or are many of staffing’s implications merely cross-level fallacies? This article…
Abstract
Does staffing contribute to organizational effectiveness and sustained competitive advantage, or are many of staffing’s implications merely cross-level fallacies? This article provides a critical examination of staffing research and practice, and proposes a multilevel model of staffing that ties together micro (e.g. personnel selection), meso (e.g. team staffing), and macro (e.g. organizational strategy, Human Resources practices) theory, research, and practice. The model is both integrative and prescriptive, providing a basic organizing structure for examining staffing research within and across levels. The article begins with a review of multilevel theory, followed by a review and critique of the dominant staffing paradigms from a multilevel perspective. It is shown these single level paradigms cannot answer many of the primary questions of interest to staffing specialists. In contrast, the multilevel staffing model not only addresses these limitations, but also prompts a variety of new predictions that oftentimes run counter to prevailing wisdom. Staffing specialists are challenged to show how our science and practice contribute to better functioning organizations.
This research seeks to extend our understanding of how community information networks (CINs) are used by public libraries in New Zealand, and to assess key factors in adoption of…
Abstract
Purpose
This research seeks to extend our understanding of how community information networks (CINs) are used by public libraries in New Zealand, and to assess key factors in adoption of the internet for CINs. It also aims to explore the application of a particular theory to the diffusion of CINs in one particular library through internet connectivity and, through this theory (diffusion of innovation), to assess the conditions which make these networks feasible.
Design/methodology/approach
Face‐to‐face interviews were conducted with five key CIN staff of one NZ public library as a means of gathering data on the perceptions, motivation and attitudes of those directly involved in developing and managing the CIN. From the data gathered, the research has analysed the potential influences on the adoption of CINs, including the attributes of innovation in public libraries. This is based on the attributes of an innovation in Rogers’ theory of diffusion of innovation.
Findings
The research findings are summarised from staff discussions during the interviews, including research propositions related to the first research question, i.e. “can Rogers' diffusion of innovation model be applied to the diffusion of CINs in public libraries”, and findings from staff interviews related to the second research question – “What are major attributes that have affected CIN adoption in the case study library?”
Research limitations/implications
Some attributes based on Rogers' theory were positive, while a few others were not clearly perceived by practitioners, and this needs to be addressed by more careful distinctions being made between the categories in any future research.
Originality/value
This research provides knowledge in developing community information services for librarians, students, and researchers, and anyone else interested in this issue. Additionally, it can serve as a model of using the theory of diffusion of innovation.
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Kevin Baird, Sophia Xia Su and Nuraddeen Nuhu
This study examines the mediating role of the fairness of performance appraisal on the association between the extent of use of strategic performance measurement systems (SPMSs…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the mediating role of the fairness of performance appraisal on the association between the extent of use of strategic performance measurement systems (SPMSs) with SPMS effectiveness.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected using an online survey distributed to 656 Australian middle and lower level managers.
Findings
The findings reveal that informational fairness mediates the association between SPMSs (link to value drivers and the use of multidimensional performance measures) with performance-related outcomes; procedural fairness mediates the association between SPMSs (link to strategy and the use of multidimensional performance measures) with staff-related outcomes and distributive fairness mediates the association between the use of SPMSs (all three types) with both performance and staff-related outcomes.
Originality/value
The study provides a unique insight into the importance of fairness (the distributive, informational and procedural fairness of the performance appraisal system) in mediating the associations between the extent of use of SPMSs and SPMS effectiveness. The findings contribute to the human resource management (HRM) “black box” literature by providing an insight into the behavioural mechanism through which a specific human resource management practice (i.e. the SPMS) influences organisational performance.
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The frequent occurrence of hazards, especially on junior staff in developing countries, is a major setback on project delivery. This is because the safety of the construction…
Abstract
Purpose
The frequent occurrence of hazards, especially on junior staff in developing countries, is a major setback on project delivery. This is because the safety of the construction workers' environment influences their performance. Although a range of literature has addressed safety measures on construction sites, how far is their compliance with personal protective equipment (PPE) on junior staff is yet to receive in-depth studies in Nigeria. Therefore, this study investigated the level of Nigerian construction companies' compliance and proffered possible solutions that intend to improve the implementation of PPE on junior staff.
Design/methodology/approach
The data were collected via observation and face-to-face interviews among the selected companies' staff in Lagos and Abuja. The interview is to determine their perceptions regarding compliance with PPE on construction sites.
Findings
Findings show that compliance with PPE on junior staff, especially the indigenous construction companies, is poor. This is because monitoring and enforcement are lax by government regulatory agencies. Also, findings show that many international construction companies ensure that junior workers obey site safety measures those mitigate the chance of hazard occurrence during construction as a policy.
Research limitations/implications
This paper data collection is limited to Abuja and Lagos, and a phenomenology type of qualitative research was employed, but this does not weaken the robustness. Future research is needed to consider adopting a mixed-methods approach.
Practical implications
As part of this paper's implications, findings recommended that the construction company's safety regulations and policies should be robust and enriched to mitigate site-related hazards via a framework or mechanism, but the government agencies/ministries need to give the enabling direction, strict monitoring and enforcement of PPE on junior staff. This paper intends to stir up the appropriate government authorities for possibly passing the Labour, Safety, Health and Welfare Bill 2012 (updated in 2016) Act into law.
Originality/value
This study demonstrates that the government agencies concern with approval and enforcement of construction site safety needs to reawaken to their responsibilities because of the lax implementation in many sites, especially in indigenous construction sites.
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