Identifying thriving Workplaces in Hospitals: Work Characteristics and the Applicability of Character Strengths at Work

Cornelia Strecker (), Alexandra Huber, Thomas Höge, Melanie Hausler and Stefan Höfer
Additional contact information
Cornelia Strecker: University of Innsbruck
Alexandra Huber: Medical University of Innsbruck
Thomas Höge: University of Innsbruck
Melanie Hausler: Medical University of Innsbruck
Stefan Höfer: University of Innsbruck

Applied Research in Quality of Life, 2020, vol. 15, issue 2, No 8, 437-461

Abstract: Abstract In most of their work settings, the health and well-being of hospital physicians are at risk. Trends of work intensification and changing laws in the European Union and beyond have heightened the call for taking a closer look at the workplace and training conditions of hospital physicians. This study aims to identify specific work characteristics (such as autonomy, social support, cognitive demands, and skill adequacy), in order to determine conditions for the applicability of individual character strengths at work and in turn for increased work engagement and well-being. We examined our hypotheses based on cross-sectional (N = 173) and longitudinal self-report data (N = 72) of hospital physicians in Austria. The results identified significant indirect effects of skill adequacy, cognitive demands, autonomy, and social support at work – via the applicability of individual character strengths at work – on work engagement and general well-being. Longitudinal analyses additionally confirmed autonomy as a thriving work characteristic for promoting the applicability of individual character strengths over time (time lag: 6 months). This study revealed the value of enabling and preserving the applicability of character strengths in a hospital work setting and focused – for the first time – on its predicting work characteristics. Furthermore, it emphasizes the importance of securing skill adequacy early in the training of young physicians and encouraging, as well as, sustaining autonomy in their daily work life.

Keywords: Work characteristics; Autonomy; Applicability of signature character strengths; Work engagement; Well-being (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11482-018-9693-1 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:ariqol:v:15:y:2020:i:2:d:10.1007_s11482-018-9693-1

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/journal/11482

DOI: 10.1007/s11482-018-9693-1

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Research in Quality of Life is currently edited by Daniel Shek

More articles in Applied Research in Quality of Life from Springer, International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().