A quantitative study on the factors influencing work stress in the healthcare industry: the chinese context

Abstract

Chinese healthcare industry is facing serious staff shortage, which is threatening Government’s commitment to provide effective care for the population. Work-related stress is one of the main reasons why attracting and retaining employees have become difficult for the industry. This research study examines the stress factors that are affecting Chinese healthcare employees. By surveying the literature, this study constructed theoretical framework and hypotheses outlining various stressors and their relations to the Work Stress affecting the healthcare employees. These hypotheses are tested using the data collected via survey from 157 Chinese healthcare workers. Regression analyses indicate that increased Job Demand, lowered Job Control, decreased Job Reward, inadequate Employee Training, unfavourable Organisational Culture and lack of Self-Efficacy of the employees have direct positive effects on the increased Stress. Moreover, Organisational Culture and Management Style have indirect effects on Work Stress. This study found that better Organisational Culture reduces High Job Demand, increases Job Control for the workers, and improves their perception of Job Reward and Training efficacy, which in return reduces Work Stress. On the other hand, Authoritative Management Approach is associated with employees’ perception of higher Job Demand, Lower Job Control, presence of Imbalanced Effort-reward system, unsatisfactory Training and Job Reward, all of which increase Work stress. This study concurs with previous studies advocating for organisation-wide changes to reduce Work Stress instead of persondirected approach. This study recommends the adaptation of Sustainable Human Resource Management in place of traditional Human Resource Management as the latter fails to adequately protect employee well-being.