AbstractThis paper examines whether authentic leadership provides the resources employees need to build their psychological capacities and well‐being so that they can embrace organisational change and engage in innovative work behaviour (IWB) within non‐profit organisation (NPO). The paper builds on previous research examining the antecedents of IWB such as 'innovation‐enabling culture' and psychological capital (PsyCap). The new variables examined in this study are authentic leadership and acceptance of change. Utilising a structural equation modelling methodology, 248 surveys from Australian not‐for‐profit employees were analysed revealing that authentic leadership accounted for more than a fifth of the variance of PsyCap; PsyCap, age, and authentic leadership accounted for 40% of employees' well‐being; and age, leadership, and acceptance of change accounted for a quarter of their IWB, although acceptance of change was not directly related to IWB. The main contribution of this paper is in explaining why authentic leadership is an important ingredient for building an 'innovation‐enabling culture' for NPO employees, suggesting that such leadership provides a pathway for developing effective workplace relationships built on trust and ethical decision making. Such behaviour builds a supportive culture for developing employees' personal resources, which promotes the conditions for promoting IWB.Points for practitioners Authentic leadership behaviour provides a platform for developing the psychological capacities of employees in non‐profit organisations (NPOs) contracted to deliver social services to Australians. Authentic leadership behaviours and psychological capital enhance employees' well‐being. Authentic leadership behaviours and psychological capital are significant building blocks of an innovation‐enabling culture in NPOs.
AbstractThis study examines policy implementation as it unfolds from policy, to the contractors and then to its impact on employees delivering the social service. Multilevel statistical analysis is used to examine survey data from 36 contractors and 542 employees. The use of multilevel analysis provides a methodological tool and subsequent analysis new to the discipline of public administration. The results indicate a strong positive association between resource (in)adequacy decision‐making at the contractor level and employee outcomes. The contribution of the paper is new evidence to support the widening of existing quality care indicators to include organisational support metrics for contractors.
AbstractThis paper empirically uses a street‐level bureaucrat (SLB) lens to compare the impact of personal and organisational support on the innovative behaviour of frontline healthcare workers in Australia and the United States. Survey data came from the 260 U.S. and 220 Australian respondents. The structural equation model shows that organisational (i.e. manager–subordinate relationships) and personal supports (i.e. psychological capital [PsyCap]) significantly influence the innovative behaviour of frontline SLBs in health care. Further, the mediation results show that reciprocal social exchanges provide the foundations for facilitating the growth of healthcare workers' PsyCap, which then gives them the resilience to be innovative in the workplace. The U.S. respondents perceived stronger organisational support and consequently had a better platform for building PsyCap – providing better work conditions for facilitating innovative behaviour to bourgeon. The paper adds to SLB theory concerning the influence of two variables on SLBs' innovative behaviour, in addition to a meaningful comparison of the U.S. and Australian healthcare workers. If governments and organisations want innovative workers, then the policies must be based on empirical evidence that shows the impact on all stakeholders, including SLBs, because otherwise, irrespective of policy directives, the outcome is low levels of employee wellbeing (which likely results in limited innovative activity).
AbstractThis paper is guided by Conservation of Resources theory and aims to investigate the impact of personal and organisational support on the quality of clinical care given to aged care residents in for‐profit (FP) and not‐for‐profit (NFP) facilities. Broadly, the paper addresses challenges faced by governments in designing contract specifications that ensure quality outcomes from aged care providers. The argument is that the present accreditation standards that are used to assess the status of aged care providers are too narrow to capture the complexity in delivering social services. Data were collected from 442 aged care workers from aged care facilities in NSW, QLD and WA. The results show that carer support (personal and organisational support) explained half of the variance in quality of clinical care in NFP facilities, and a third of the variance in FP facilities. In particular, the findings suggest support for carers is important for carer retention, and ultimately the clinical care of residents. The findings provide supporting evidence to widen the required contract specifications for aged care provider accreditation to include organisational and personal support for carers.
PurposeUsing social exchange theory (SET) and Cooper's (2000) model, the purpose of this paper is to operationalise a comprehensive model of safety culture and tests whether SET factors (supervisor-employee relationships and engagement) predict safety culture in a causal chain.Design/methodology/approachThe model was tested using surveys from 648 healthcare staff in an Italian acute care hospital and analysed using structural equation modelling.FindingsSafety behaviours of clinical staff can be explained by the quality of the supervisor-employee relationship, their engagement, their feelings about safety and the quality of organisational support.Practical implicationsThe model provides a roadmap for strategically embedding effective safe behaviours. Management needs to improve healthcare staff's workplace relationships to enhance engagement and to shape beliefs about safety practices.Originality/valueThe contribution of this paper is that it has empirically developed and tested a comprehensive model of safety culture that identifies a causal chain for healthcare managers to follow so as to embed an effective safety culture.
AbstractThere is a need to understand how leadership affects the well‐being of local government employees working under conditions of prolonged austerity‐driven reforms. A total of 118 Australian local government employees were surveyed. The analysis involved hierarchical regression using the PROCESS macro in SPSS, which identified the total, direct, and bootstrapped bias‐corrected indirect effects. The findings suggest that managers demonstrated some leadership behaviours required to lead staff positively; however, authentic leadership behaviours need to be strengthened to ensure they can lead an under‐resourced, under‐staffed sector of government. These findings are consistent with recent findings from the Australian Local Government Association analysis of gaps in the skill profile of local government. Authentic leadership and PsyCap capabilities are known to increase sector capability, especially to achieve higher outcomes in a time when austerity is still driving policy. Local government is not sustainable without effective leadership that can navigate austerity‐led policies with agility based on constructive feedback to ensure a productive workplace that enhances employee well‐being.
This study examines the extent to which being a HERO (i.e., Hope, Efficacy, Resilience, and Optimism) impacts police officer Street Level Bureaucrats (SLBs) operational and organizational stress, and their subsequent perceived well-being. The sample comprised 220 Italian and 228 English SLBs, and hypotheses were tested using the Analysis for Moment Structures (AMOS) v.27 Structural Equation Modeling software. The findings depict that HERO explains approximately a fifth of SLBs' organizational stress, and together, their variance accounted for approximately two-thirds of SLBs' well-being. Finally, as one personal psychological resource for helping police officers cope with stress in the workplace, the findings indicate a need to upskill SLBs in HERO to better negotiate bureaucratic processes without becoming more susceptible to negative stress-related outcomes.