Reinventing employee morale during Covid Pandemic: Study of psychological contract and job satisfaction of healthcare professionals

https://doi.org/10.35912/ijfam.v3i3.596
Published: Dec 23, 2021

Abstract:

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to comprehend and appraise the impact of employee morale during the COVID pandemic on psychological contract and job satisfaction of healthcare professionals in Indian private Hospitals.

Research methodology: The study adopted an empirical analysis. A structured questionnaire was adopted based on the Scale for assessing psychological contract by Rousseau (2000) for collecting primary data through a survey from doctors and nurses in selected private hospitals.

Results: The results suggest that managing the healthcare system by focusing on the insight of employee psychological contract and job satisfaction can improve employee morale during crisis conditions like the COVID-19 pandemic among the doctors and nurses in the healthcare sector.

Limitations: Due to COVID 19 pandemic, it was difficult to get responses from healthcare professionals.

Contribution: This paper aims to support the healthcare sector by recommending the building of employee morale and fulfilling the psychological contract to achieve job satisfaction of healthcare professionals in the healthcare sector.

Keywords:
1. Commitment
2. COVID 19
3. Healthcare
4. Mental health
5. Psychological contracts
6. Strategies
Authors:
1 . Fazeelath Tabasum
School of Management Studies, Reva University, Bangalore, India
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8537-5626
2 . Nitu Ghosh
School of Management Studies, Reva University, Bangalore, India
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5744-1670
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How to Cite
Tabasum, . F., & Ghosh, N. (2021). Reinventing employee morale during Covid Pandemic: Study of psychological contract and job satisfaction of healthcare professionals. International Journal of Financial, Accounting, and Management, 3(3), 259–274. https://doi.org/10.35912/ijfam.v3i3.596
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Issue & Section
Vol. 3 No. 3 (2021): December
Articles
References

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    Bal, P. M., Hofmans, J., & Polat, T. (2016). Breaking Psychological Contracts with the Burden of Workload: A Weekly Study of Job Resources as Moderators. Applied Psychology, 66(1), 143–167. https://doi.org/10.1111/apps.12079

    Bal, P. M., Kooij, D. T. A. M., & de Jong, S. B. (2013). How Do Developmental and Accommodative HRM Enhance Employee Engagement and Commitment? The Role of Psychological Contract and SOC Strategies. Journal of Management Studies, 50(4), 545–572. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12028

    Cai, H., Tu, B., Ma, J., Chen, L., Fu, L., Jiang, Y., & Zhuang, Q. (2020). Psychological impacts and coping strategies of front-line medical staff during COVID-19 outbreak in Hunan, China. Medical Science Monitor, 26. Published. https://doi.org/10.12659/msm.924171

    Cai, Q., Feng, H., Huang, J., Wang, M., Wang, Q., Lu, X., . . . Liu, Y. (2020). The mental health of frontline and non-frontline medical workers during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in China: A case-control study. Journal of Affective Disorders, 275, 210–215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.06.031

    Cavanaugh, M. A., & Noe, R. A. (1999). Antecedents and consequences of relational components of the new psychological contract. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 20(3), 323–340.

    Chien, W. T., & Yick, S. Y. (2016). An Investigation of Nurses’ Job Satisfaction in a Private Hospital and Its Correlates. The Open Nursing Journal, 10(1), 99–112. https://doi.org/10.2174/1874434601610010099

    Coyle-Shapiro, J., & Kessler, I. (2000). Consequences Of The Psychological Contract For The Employment Relationship: A Large Scale Survey*. Journal of Management Studies, 37(7), 903–930. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6486.00210

    El-Jardali, F., Dimassi, H., Dumit, N., Jamal, D., & Mouro, G. (2009). A national cross-sectional study on nurses’ intent to leave and job satisfaction in Lebanon: implications for policy and practice. BMC Nursing, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6955-8-3

    ET HealthWorld. (2020, September 17). IMA publishes list of 382 docs who died due to Covid-19, demands they be treated as martyrs. Retrieved August 18, 2021, from https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/ima-publishes-list-of-382-docs-who-died-due-to-covid-19-demands-they-be-treated-as-martyrs/78158300

    Fenner, K. (1988). Nursing Shortage. Nursing Management (Springhouse), 19(11), 44???45. https://doi.org/10.1097/00006247-198811000-00015

    Galbraith, N., Boyda, D., McFeeters, D., & Hassan, T. (2020). The mental health of doctors during the COVID-19 pandemic. BJPsych Bulletin, 45(2), 93–97. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjb.2020.44

    Kavanaugh, J., Duffy, J. A., & Lilly, J. (2006). The relationship between job satisfaction and demographic variables for healthcare professionals. Management Research News, 29(6), 304–325. https://doi.org/10.1108/01409170610683842

    Koinis, A., Giannou, V., Drantaki, V., Angelaina, S., Stratou, E., & Saridi, M. (2015). The impact of healthcare workers job environment on their mental-emotional health. Coping strategies: the case of a local general hospital. Health Psychology Research, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.4081/hpr.2015.1984

    Lai, J., Ma, S., Wang, Y., Cai, Z., Hu, J., Wei, N., . . . Hu, S. (2020). Factors Associated With Mental Health Outcomes Among Health Care Workers Exposed to Coronavirus Disease 2019. JAMA Network Open, 3(3), e203976. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.3976

    McDonald, S., & Ahern, K. (2000). The professional consequences of whistleblowing by nurses. Journal of Professional Nursing, 16(6), 313–321. https://doi.org/10.1053/jpnu.2000.18178

    Mueller, C. W., & Mccloskey, J. C. (1990). Nurses?? Job Satisfaction. Nursing Research, 39(2), 113???116. https://doi.org/10.1097/00006199-199003000-00014

    Nishanthi, H. M., & Mahalekamge, W. G. S. (2016). Impact of psychological contract on employee outcomes of job satisfaction and organizational commitment: evidence from a leading apparel manufacturing company in Sri Lanka. Kelaniya Journal of Human Resource Management, 11(2), 74. https://doi.org/10.4038/kjhrm.v11i2.30

    Parkes, K. R. (1982). Occupational stress among student nurses: A natural experiment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 67(6), 784–796. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.67.6.784

    Priebe, S., Fakhoury, W. K. H., Hoffmann, K., & Powell, R. A. (2005). Morale and job perception of community mental health professionals in Berlin and London. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 40(3), 223–232. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-005-0880-7

    Robinson, S. E., Roth, S. L., & Brown, L. L. (1993). Morale and Job Satisfaction Among Nurses: What Can Hospitals Do? Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 23(3), 244–251. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.1993.tb01085.x

    Robinson, S. L., & Morrison, E. W. (1995). Psychological contracts and OCB: The effect of unfulfilled obligations on civic virtue behavior. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 16(3), 289–298. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.4030160309

    Rousseau, D. M. (1989). Psychological and implied contracts in organizations. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 2(2), 121–139. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01384942

    Rousseau, D. M. (2000). Psychological contract inventory. Technical report.

    Rousseau, D. M. (2001). Schema, promise and mutuality: The building blocks of the psychological contract. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 74(4), 511–541. https://doi.org/10.1348/096317901167505

    Sabitova, A., Sajun, S. Z., Nicholson, S., Mosler, F., & Priebe, S. (2019). Job morale of physicians in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic literature review of qualitative studies. BMJ Open, 9(12), e028657. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-028657

    Said, R. M., & El-Shafei, D. A. (2020). Occupational stress, job satisfaction, and intent to leave: nurses working on front lines during COVID-19 pandemic in Zagazig City, Egypt. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 28(7), 8791–8801. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11235-8

    Shaukat, N., Ali, D. M., & Razzak, J. (2020). Physical and mental health impacts of COVID-19 on healthcare workers: a scoping review. International Journal of Emergency Medicine, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12245-020-00299-5.

    Shuy, M., Lu, M., & Chen, P. (1999). A studt of the relationship between motivation and job involvement among staff nurses. Nursing Research, 7(3), 235-247

    TAM, C. W. C., PANG, E. P. F., LAM, L. C. W., & CHIU, H. F. K. (2004). Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Hong Kong in 2003: stress and psychological impact among frontline healthcare workers. Psychological Medicine, 34(7), 1197–1204. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0033291704002247

    Vantilborgh, T., Bidee, J., Pepermans, R., Griep, Y., & Hofmans, J. (2016). Antecedents of Psychological Contract Breach: The Role of Job Demands, Job Resources, and Affect. PLOS ONE, 11(5), e0154696. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0154696

    Vilma, Z., & Egle, K. (2007). Improving motivation among health care workers in private health care organizations. Baltic Journal of Management, 2(2), 213–224. https://doi.org/10.1108/17465260710751008

    Wayne, S. J., Shore, L. M., Bommer, W. H., & Tetrick, L. E. (2002). The role of fair treatment and rewards in perceptions of organizational support and leader-member exchange. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(3), 590–598. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.87.3.590

    Wilder-Smith, A., Chiew, C. J., & Lee, V. J. (2020). Can we contain the COVID-19 outbreak with the same measures as for SARS? The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 20(5), e102–e107. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1473-3099(20)30129-8

    Xiao, H., Zhang, Y., Kong, D., Li, S., & Yang, N. (2020). The Effects of Social Support on Sleep Quality of Medical Staff Treating Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in January and February 2020 in China. Medical Science Monitor, 26. Published. https://doi.org/10.12659/msm.923549

    Yang, K. P., & Huang, C. K. (2005). The Effects of Staff Nurses’ Morale on Patient Satisfaction. Journal of Nursing Research, 13(2), 141–152. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.jnr.0000387535.53136.14

    Yu, X., Zhao, Y., Li, Y., Hu, C., Xu, H., Zhao, X., & Huang, J. (2020). Factors Associated With Job Satisfaction of Frontline Medical Staff Fighting Against COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Study in China. Frontiers in Public Health, 8. Published. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.00426

    Zhang, S. X., Chen, J., Afshar Jahanshahi, A., Alvarez-Risco, A., Dai, H., Li, J., & Patty-Tito, R. M. (2021). Succumbing to the COVID-19 Pandemic—Healthcare Workers Not Satisfied and Intend to Leave Their Jobs. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction. Published. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-020-00418-6

    Zhou, Y., Wang, W., Sun, Y., Qian, W., Liu, Z., Wang, R., . . . Zhang, X. (2020). The prevalence and risk factors of psychological disturbances of frontline medical staff in china under the COVID-19 epidemic: Workload should be concerned. Journal of Affective Disorders, 277, 510–514. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.08.059

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  2. Bal, P. M., Hofmans, J., & Polat, T. (2016). Breaking Psychological Contracts with the Burden of Workload: A Weekly Study of Job Resources as Moderators. Applied Psychology, 66(1), 143–167. https://doi.org/10.1111/apps.12079
  3. Bal, P. M., Kooij, D. T. A. M., & de Jong, S. B. (2013). How Do Developmental and Accommodative HRM Enhance Employee Engagement and Commitment? The Role of Psychological Contract and SOC Strategies. Journal of Management Studies, 50(4), 545–572. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12028
  4. Cai, H., Tu, B., Ma, J., Chen, L., Fu, L., Jiang, Y., & Zhuang, Q. (2020). Psychological impacts and coping strategies of front-line medical staff during COVID-19 outbreak in Hunan, China. Medical Science Monitor, 26. Published. https://doi.org/10.12659/msm.924171
  5. Cai, Q., Feng, H., Huang, J., Wang, M., Wang, Q., Lu, X., . . . Liu, Y. (2020). The mental health of frontline and non-frontline medical workers during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in China: A case-control study. Journal of Affective Disorders, 275, 210–215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.06.031
  6. Cavanaugh, M. A., & Noe, R. A. (1999). Antecedents and consequences of relational components of the new psychological contract. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 20(3), 323–340.
  7. Chien, W. T., & Yick, S. Y. (2016). An Investigation of Nurses’ Job Satisfaction in a Private Hospital and Its Correlates. The Open Nursing Journal, 10(1), 99–112. https://doi.org/10.2174/1874434601610010099
  8. Coyle-Shapiro, J., & Kessler, I. (2000). Consequences Of The Psychological Contract For The Employment Relationship: A Large Scale Survey*. Journal of Management Studies, 37(7), 903–930. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6486.00210
  9. El-Jardali, F., Dimassi, H., Dumit, N., Jamal, D., & Mouro, G. (2009). A national cross-sectional study on nurses’ intent to leave and job satisfaction in Lebanon: implications for policy and practice. BMC Nursing, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6955-8-3
  10. ET HealthWorld. (2020, September 17). IMA publishes list of 382 docs who died due to Covid-19, demands they be treated as martyrs. Retrieved August 18, 2021, from https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/ima-publishes-list-of-382-docs-who-died-due-to-covid-19-demands-they-be-treated-as-martyrs/78158300
  11. Fenner, K. (1988). Nursing Shortage. Nursing Management (Springhouse), 19(11), 44???45. https://doi.org/10.1097/00006247-198811000-00015
  12. Galbraith, N., Boyda, D., McFeeters, D., & Hassan, T. (2020). The mental health of doctors during the COVID-19 pandemic. BJPsych Bulletin, 45(2), 93–97. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjb.2020.44
  13. Kavanaugh, J., Duffy, J. A., & Lilly, J. (2006). The relationship between job satisfaction and demographic variables for healthcare professionals. Management Research News, 29(6), 304–325. https://doi.org/10.1108/01409170610683842
  14. Koinis, A., Giannou, V., Drantaki, V., Angelaina, S., Stratou, E., & Saridi, M. (2015). The impact of healthcare workers job environment on their mental-emotional health. Coping strategies: the case of a local general hospital. Health Psychology Research, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.4081/hpr.2015.1984
  15. Lai, J., Ma, S., Wang, Y., Cai, Z., Hu, J., Wei, N., . . . Hu, S. (2020). Factors Associated With Mental Health Outcomes Among Health Care Workers Exposed to Coronavirus Disease 2019. JAMA Network Open, 3(3), e203976. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.3976
  16. McDonald, S., & Ahern, K. (2000). The professional consequences of whistleblowing by nurses. Journal of Professional Nursing, 16(6), 313–321. https://doi.org/10.1053/jpnu.2000.18178
  17. Mueller, C. W., & Mccloskey, J. C. (1990). Nurses?? Job Satisfaction. Nursing Research, 39(2), 113???116. https://doi.org/10.1097/00006199-199003000-00014
  18. Nishanthi, H. M., & Mahalekamge, W. G. S. (2016). Impact of psychological contract on employee outcomes of job satisfaction and organizational commitment: evidence from a leading apparel manufacturing company in Sri Lanka. Kelaniya Journal of Human Resource Management, 11(2), 74. https://doi.org/10.4038/kjhrm.v11i2.30
  19. Parkes, K. R. (1982). Occupational stress among student nurses: A natural experiment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 67(6), 784–796. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.67.6.784
  20. Priebe, S., Fakhoury, W. K. H., Hoffmann, K., & Powell, R. A. (2005). Morale and job perception of community mental health professionals in Berlin and London. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 40(3), 223–232. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-005-0880-7
  21. Robinson, S. E., Roth, S. L., & Brown, L. L. (1993). Morale and Job Satisfaction Among Nurses: What Can Hospitals Do? Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 23(3), 244–251. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.1993.tb01085.x
  22. Robinson, S. L., & Morrison, E. W. (1995). Psychological contracts and OCB: The effect of unfulfilled obligations on civic virtue behavior. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 16(3), 289–298. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.4030160309
  23. Rousseau, D. M. (1989). Psychological and implied contracts in organizations. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 2(2), 121–139. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01384942
  24. Rousseau, D. M. (2000). Psychological contract inventory. Technical report.
  25. Rousseau, D. M. (2001). Schema, promise and mutuality: The building blocks of the psychological contract. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 74(4), 511–541. https://doi.org/10.1348/096317901167505
  26. Sabitova, A., Sajun, S. Z., Nicholson, S., Mosler, F., & Priebe, S. (2019). Job morale of physicians in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic literature review of qualitative studies. BMJ Open, 9(12), e028657. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-028657
  27. Said, R. M., & El-Shafei, D. A. (2020). Occupational stress, job satisfaction, and intent to leave: nurses working on front lines during COVID-19 pandemic in Zagazig City, Egypt. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 28(7), 8791–8801. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11235-8
  28. Shaukat, N., Ali, D. M., & Razzak, J. (2020). Physical and mental health impacts of COVID-19 on healthcare workers: a scoping review. International Journal of Emergency Medicine, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12245-020-00299-5.
  29. Shuy, M., Lu, M., & Chen, P. (1999). A studt of the relationship between motivation and job involvement among staff nurses. Nursing Research, 7(3), 235-247
  30. TAM, C. W. C., PANG, E. P. F., LAM, L. C. W., & CHIU, H. F. K. (2004). Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Hong Kong in 2003: stress and psychological impact among frontline healthcare workers. Psychological Medicine, 34(7), 1197–1204. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0033291704002247
  31. Vantilborgh, T., Bidee, J., Pepermans, R., Griep, Y., & Hofmans, J. (2016). Antecedents of Psychological Contract Breach: The Role of Job Demands, Job Resources, and Affect. PLOS ONE, 11(5), e0154696. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0154696
  32. Vilma, Z., & Egle, K. (2007). Improving motivation among health care workers in private health care organizations. Baltic Journal of Management, 2(2), 213–224. https://doi.org/10.1108/17465260710751008
  33. Wayne, S. J., Shore, L. M., Bommer, W. H., & Tetrick, L. E. (2002). The role of fair treatment and rewards in perceptions of organizational support and leader-member exchange. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(3), 590–598. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.87.3.590
  34. Wilder-Smith, A., Chiew, C. J., & Lee, V. J. (2020). Can we contain the COVID-19 outbreak with the same measures as for SARS? The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 20(5), e102–e107. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1473-3099(20)30129-8
  35. Xiao, H., Zhang, Y., Kong, D., Li, S., & Yang, N. (2020). The Effects of Social Support on Sleep Quality of Medical Staff Treating Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in January and February 2020 in China. Medical Science Monitor, 26. Published. https://doi.org/10.12659/msm.923549
  36. Yang, K. P., & Huang, C. K. (2005). The Effects of Staff Nurses’ Morale on Patient Satisfaction. Journal of Nursing Research, 13(2), 141–152. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.jnr.0000387535.53136.14
  37. Yu, X., Zhao, Y., Li, Y., Hu, C., Xu, H., Zhao, X., & Huang, J. (2020). Factors Associated With Job Satisfaction of Frontline Medical Staff Fighting Against COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Study in China. Frontiers in Public Health, 8. Published. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.00426
  38. Zhang, S. X., Chen, J., Afshar Jahanshahi, A., Alvarez-Risco, A., Dai, H., Li, J., & Patty-Tito, R. M. (2021). Succumbing to the COVID-19 Pandemic—Healthcare Workers Not Satisfied and Intend to Leave Their Jobs. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction. Published. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-020-00418-6
  39. Zhou, Y., Wang, W., Sun, Y., Qian, W., Liu, Z., Wang, R., . . . Zhang, X. (2020). The prevalence and risk factors of psychological disturbances of frontline medical staff in china under the COVID-19 epidemic: Workload should be concerned. Journal of Affective Disorders, 277, 510–514. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.08.059