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Jörg W Kirchhoff,1 Abigail Marks,2 Ann Karin Helgesen,1 Kirsti Lauvli Andersen,1 Hilde Marie Andreassen,1 Vigdis Abrahamsen Grøndahl1 1Faculty of Health, Welfare and Organisation, Østfold University College, Halden, Norway; 2Author Affiliations Newcastle University Business School, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UKCorrespondence: Jörg W KirchhoffFaculty of Health, Welfare and Organisation, Østfold University College, Halden, NorwayTel +47 47 69 60 86 99Email jorg.kirchhoff@hiof.noPurpose: Previous studies indicate that the introduction of information and communication technology (ICT) in health care organizations impairs health care professional’s working conditions and diminishes job discretion. Most of these studies, however, were designed to explore the influence of ICT exclusively on a single group of health care professionals and thereby did not consider the influence of the same technology on other groups of health care professionals. The aim of this article is to explore the influence of a fully integrated ICT system on both doctors and registered nurses within the same working environment: a high-tech hospital.Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted in a high-tech Norwegian hospital. Data were collected in 2016. In total, 264 registered nurses and 172 doctors responded to a questionnaire on their working conditions and experiences with ICT in clinical work. Descriptive statistics, compare means, cross-tables, Chi-square and bivariate correlation analysis were used to analyze the data. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.Results: The findings revealed differences in doctors’ and registered nurses’ working conditions. Registered nurses reported a statistically significant higher workload and better job content than doctors. There was no difference in job discretion between doctors and registered nurses. Both occupational groups experienced that the ICT system impairs patient contact and the quality of health services. We found statistically significant correlations between registered nurses’ and doctors’ experiences with ICT in clinical work and working conditions, whereof the strongest correlation was related to job discretion in clinical work.Conclusion: This study concludes that the impact of ICT on doctors’ and registered nurses’ working conditions in a hospital depends on the experiences of ICT in clinical work. In consequence, it is recommended to involve doctors and registered nurses in the implementation of ICT in hospitals.Keywords: health care professionals, information and communication technology, job discretion, job content, working conditions

To get a more nuanced picture job content plateau and its effects, the present study test if high-performance work practices (HPWPs) moderate the relationship between job content plateau and job at...

This study is the third in a series of studies comparing the development of the working conditions of child welfare social workers in Sweden during the last decade. The same questionnaire was distributed in 2014 (n = 349) to the social workers handling investigations of children and youth who were working with the same types of tasks in the districts previously investigated in 2003 (n = 309). The questionnaire (QPS Nordic) contained questions about their job content, role conflicts, demands, organisational climate, job satisfaction and intention to leave the workplace or change profession. The aim of the present study was to analyse this development in relation to the low-income, middle-income and high-income districts where the social workers were employed. The results reveal two different patterns. The first concerns the social workers’ perception of their work tasks where the situation seems to have deteriorated in all three income areas but more so in the low income areas. Furthermore, the soc...

This article investigates associations between attachment patterns and reported rates of absenteeism and presenteeism and tests potential mediators of these relationships. A cross-sectional, self-report survey design was employed whereby 448 adult workers completed a battery of questionnaires. The battery included the Attachment Style Questionnaire, the Work Limitations Questionnaire, an absenteeism measure, the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21, an external affect regulator use questionnaire, and the Job Content Questionnaire. Overall, results of the participant surveys indicate that insecure attachment patterns are positively associated with absenteeism and presenteeism through the mediating effects of negative emotions, external affect regulator use, and isostrain. Implications for work-based supports are discussed.

Relatively little is known about the short-term test-retest reliability of the Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) and Effort-Reward Imbalance Questionnaire (ERIQ). Seventeen JCQ and six ERIQ items were qualitatively reviewed by 19 firefighters in focus groups. The items were then administered twice to 81 firefighters with a time interval of 1-8 weeks. The short-term reliability of the JCQ and ERIQ items and scales with the four-point Likert item responses was at least fair or moderate with several complementary statistical methods. It improved substantially when the four-point responses were simplified into the two ('agree' or 'disagree') responses. The JCQ psychological demands and the ERIQ effort scales were among the least reliable scales and their items were most frequently indicated by the firefighters to be clarified. The responses of professional firefighters to the JCQ and ERIQ items and scales were stable during an 8-week period, particularly when dichotomous item responses were used.

This study assessed the association between worker characteristics, workplace factors, and work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) in Nigeria's construction industry.A cross-sectional site-by-site survey was conducted in 5 existing construction companies in Uyo, Nigeria. The subjects (n = 1200 males), aged 18-55 years, filled in the semistructured Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire and the job content questionnaire on demographics, work and lifestyle characteristics, and workplace risk factors for WMSDs.The overall prevalence of WMSDs was 39.25%. Differences in age, race, weight, body mass index (BMI), education status, and employment status were significantly associated with the prevalence of WMSDs. Prevalence according to trade was as follows: ironworkers highest at 49% and administrative staff lowest at 31%. Ironworkers (55.7%), administrative staff (53.3%), and security staff (38.7%) scored higher on physical, psychosocial, and individual risk factors, respectively. Workplace factors with increased odds for WMSDs were psychological demands and mental workload, age, BMI, low work experience, low education status, awkward movement of head and arms, working against force or vibration, fast work pace, and race.The recorded high prevalence was multifactorial in etiology; hence, multi-intervention strategies are required.

OVERVIEW:Managing turnover is an increasing challenge, especially for companies employing technical and scientific professionals. Many companies underestimate the cost of turnover and consequently under-invest in reducing it. Rates of turnover among R&D units are lower than other industry segments, but the loss of single individuals can be more costly because scientific and technology professionals are so valuable. It is critical to understand the causes of turnover from the employee's point of view. Causes vary by company and industry, but a survey of scientific and technical workers reveals five types of rewards that affect turnover: job content, direct financial (cash), benefits, careers, and affiliation. Remedies for turnover in R&D may differ from what might be used with other staff groups and must address any internal factors that cause staff dissatisfaction, as well as counteract the external pull from other companies.

The effects of age, shiftwork with changing schedules, and job stress on self-reported sleep quality were studied in 2767 wage earners aged 32, 42, and 52, by means of a questionnaire. Greater age was associated with poorer sleep quality, as was shiftwork for the 32- and 42-year-olds but not for the 52-year-olds, suggesting a selection effect between the ages of 42 and 52. More than specific job demands, it was perceived job difficulty that was related to sleep dissatisfaction. No interactions between age, shiftwork, and job characteristics were found.

This article analyses the relationship between mobbing, job characteristics, social environment variables, and psychological ill-health. The Leymann Inventory of Psychological Terrorization (LIFT) was factor analysed and led to seven factors in two samples of mobbing victims (N = 50 and N = 99): Mobbing by organizational measures, social isolation, attacking the victim's private life, attacking the victim's attitudes, physical violence, verbal aggression, and rumours. Mobbing was correlated with bad job content, a bad social environment, and psychological ill-health. The findings suggest that the more social support supervisors gave, the less the victims reported being shouted at, being constantly criticized, and receiving verbal threats. In contrast, the more social support the victims received from their colleagues the less they reported being socially isolated or being ridiculed with regard to their private life. Moreover, having private life attacked showed the strongest correlation with psyc...

This paper focuses on shifts in perceived job content among two occupational panels (office technology workers and machine operators) during the first year of their professional career. A shortened version of Fine's Functional Job Analysis is used to measure perceived job content, and at each of the two time stages (i.e. stage T1 and stage T2) the data related to the three domains of People, Things, and Data are optimally scaled and then recoded to a categorical indicator of job content complexity. Shifts in perceived job content are studied by application of log-linear analysis to the multidimensional contingency table obtained by the cross-tabulation of the T1 and the T2 data. The results indicate that there is no general progress or decline in job content activities over time, except for the Things domain. The findings also suggest that there is a substantial symmetry between job progression and degression, and that the bulk of content switches is to adjacent levels of complexity.

The importance of the work environment in influencing occupational behaviour and attitudes is widely acknowledged but, in contrast to job content and measures of intrinsic interest, receives scant attention in contemporary careers education. Two methods of classifying the work environment are reviewed, and an enquiry is reported into the suitability of Holland's widely-publicised environment typology as a basic structure for use in careers education. The findings suggest that pupils order their work environment preferences in a manner similar though not identical to that proposed by Holland, and that such preferences may be interpreted as expressions of personality.

(1977). The Dual Ladder: Importance of Flexibility, Job Content and Individual Temperament. Research Management: Vol. 20, No. 4, pp. 20-23.

A simulation study to investigate the effect on missed due-dates and job flow-time is discussed by combining the job dispatching and due-date assignment decisions in job shop scheduling. A ‘semi-local’ due-date-oriented dispatching rule is designed which is able to monitor the progress of jobs closely. The performance of the dispatching rule is enhanced by a rational due-date assignment procedure which takes account of both job content and shop status information in determining due-dates. The simulation results show that the combined scheduling procedure performs better than some common simple dispatching rules which are used with the total-work-content (TWK) due-date assignment method.

This paper outlines some of the findings of two comparative studies of secretaries and their employers in central London in 1970 and 1981. The surveys look at secretarial recruitment, training, deployment, job content, job satisfaction, careers and the impact of technology. Lack of change over the decade in some of these aspects is discussed and the lack of motivating potential, in Hackman and Oldham's terms, in secretarial jobs is considered. Implications of the findings for the design of secretarial jobs are reviewed.

Results of a study initiated late in 1970 to obtain both a measure of on-and-around-the-job factors which were 'motivating' to engineers and scientists, and to obtain an indication of how the relative importance of these factors changes as a result of the uncertain economic environment. A questionnaire, 'The Jackman Job Satisfaction Schedule,' was used to satisfy the needs of the study. It is concluded that managers can enhance the feeling of motivation by making individual job assignments interesting and challenging, by formulating significant milestones and end points into job content, and by assigning ample rewards with corresponding responsibility. In times of economic uncertainty increased emphasis should be given to security-related aspects of employment.