Dealing with a changing work environment: hospital job type contingencies

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to examine whether workers in various hospital job groups differ in their perceptions of the provision of managerial support, and of their up-to-date expertise (UDE), willingness to change (WTC) and employment opportunities (EO). Second, to examine whether and how the relationships between managerial support, workers’ UDE, WTC and their EO are moderated by hospital job type. Design/methodology/approach Survey data were collected from 1,764 employees of three Dutch hospitals. ANOVAs and structural equation modeling were used to test the hypotheses. Findings The research findings indicate significant differences between the hospital job groups with regard to UDE, WTC and EO. No support was found for differences on managerial support nor for a moderating effect of hospital job type. The latter means that the relationships of managerial support with workers’ UDE, WTC and EO are independent of job type. Originality/value Based on the findings, a classification system is constructed that shows how hospital workers’ UDE, WTC and EO can be explained by the combination of the educational level required by a job and its degree of specialization.