Personal resources and their relationship to job crafting and burnout: a challenge for male nurses as a minority group

The heavy workload and pressure to which nurses are subjected leads to an increase in stress-related problems, such as burnout. Personal resources, such as job crafting, proactive personality, self-efficacy and regulatory focus are fundamental in palliating negative effects in the work environment and reducing quitting by male nurses. The objective of this study was to analyze individual differences, with attention to proactive personality, regulatory approach and general self-efficacy in job crafting, and to determine the predictive power of these variables for burnout in nurses. The sample was made up of 643 nurses. After correlation and descriptive analyses, multiple linear regression models were computed to find out the possible predictor role of the individual variables on burnout. The results showed that job crafting, proactive personality, general self-efficacy and the promotion regulatory focus were associated with a decrease in burnout in nurses. Similarly, the predictive models for each of the factors in burnout in all cases included the increase in structural resources dimension of job crafting as the variable with the most weight. Furthermore, self-efficacy, increase in job crafting social resources and proactive personality were mediators in this relationship for personal impact, social climate and job dissatisfaction factors of burnout. These findings are significant for improving performance of nurses and increasing their retention, which could be especially significant among male nurses.

Job crafting; Burnout; Proactive personality; Self-efficacy; Regulatory approach; Nursing

[1] World Health Organization. Global strategy on human resources for health: workforce 2030. 2016. Available at: http://apps.who. int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA69/A69_R19-en.pdf?ua=1&ua=1.(Accessed: 28 May 2016).

[2] Crespo-Montero R. Año Internacional de las Enfermeras y las Matronas. Enfermería Nefrológica. 2020; 23:7–8.

[3] OECD. Health at a Glance 2019: OECD Indicators. OECD Publishing: Paris, France. 2019.

[4] Rafferty AM, Busse R, Zander-Jentsch B, Sermeus W, Bruyneel L, World Health Organization. Strengthening health systems through nursing: evidence from 14 European countries. World Health Organization. Regional Office for Europe. 2019.

[5] UNESCO, Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura. Global education monitoring report gender review 2018: meeting our commitments to gender equality in education. UNESCO: Paris, France. 2018

[6] Petges N, Sabio C. Perceptions of male students in a baccalaureate nursing program: a qualitative study. Nurse Education in Practice. 2020; 48: 102872.

[7] World Health Organization. State of the world’s nursing 2020: investing in education, jobs and leadership. WHO: Geneva, Switzerland. 2020.

[8] Moya M, Moya-Garófano A. Evolution of gender stereotypes in Spain: from 1985 to 2018. Psicothema. 2021; 33: 53–59.

[9] Chan ZC, Tam WS, Lung MK, Wong WY, Chau CW. A systematic literature review of nurse shortage and the intention to leave. Journal of Nursing Management. 2013; 21: 605–613.

[10] Yu F, Raphael D, Mackay L, Smith M, King A. Personal and work-related factors associated with nurse resilience: a systematic review. International Journal of Nursing Studies. 2019; 93: 129–140.

[11] Costa B, Pinto I C. Stress, burnout and coping in health professionals: a literature review. Journal of Psychology and Brain Studies. 2017; 1: 1–8.

[12] del Carmen Pérez-Fuentes M, Gázquez JJ, del Mar Molero M, et al. Violence and job satisfaction of nurses: importance of a support network in healthcare. The European Journal of Psychology Applied to Legal Context. 2020; 13: 21–28.

[13] Rodríguez-Gázquez MLÁ, Basurto Hoyuelos S, González-López JR. Countries’ cultures and professional nursing values: cross-cultural evidence from Spanish and Colombian nursing students. Nurse Education in Practice. 2021; 50: 102953.

[14] Younas A, Ali N, Sundus A, Sommer J. Approaches of male nurses for degendering nursing and becoming visible: a metasynthesis. Journal of Clinical Nursing. 2021; 31: 467–482.

[15] Yu H, Tang F, Chen I, Yin TJC, Chen C, Yu S. Inactive nurses in Taiwan: human capital, intention to return to hospital nursing, and incentives for returning. Journal of Nursing Management. 2016; 24: 347–356.

[16] Dos Santos LM. The human resource and workforce shortage of male nurses and nursing professionals: the challenges in the Asian region. Journal of Men’s Health. 2022: 18: 88.

[17] Chen SH, Fu CM, Li RH, Lou JH, Yu HY. Relationships among social support, professional empowerment, and nursing career development of male nurses: a cross-sectional analysis. Western Journal of Nursing Research. 2012; 34:862–882.

[18] Kim YS, Lee SK. Analysis of research on nurses’ job stress using network analysis. Western Journal of Nursing Research. 2019;41: 338–354.

[19] Chen Y, Zhang Y, Jin R. Professional identity of male nursing students in 3-year colleges and junior male nurses in China. American Journal of Men´s Health. 2020; 14: 1557988320936583.

[20] Maslach C. Burnout: The cost of caring. ISHK. Los Altos, EE.UU. 2003.

[21] Maslach C. Psychology of burnout. In Wright JD. (ed.) International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (pp. 929-932). Elsevier: Amsterdam, the Netherlands. 2015.

[22] Jesús Gázquez Linares J, Pérez-Fuentes MDC, Del Mar Molero Jurado M, Fátima Oropesa Ruiz N, Del Mar Simón Márquez M, Saracostti M. Sleep quality and the mediating role of stress management on eating by nursing personnel. Nutrients. 2019; 11: 1731.

[23] De Lima C, de Abreu LC, Souza JL, Dibai CF, Neves FR, dos Santos JA, Pinheiro IM. Influencia del agotamiento en la seguridad del paciente: revisión sistemática y metaanálisis. Medicina. 2019; 55: 553. (Spanish).

[24] Torre M, Santos Popper MC, Bergesio A. Prevalencia de burnout entre las enfermeras de cuidados intensivos en Argentina. Enfermería Intensiva. 2019; 30: 108–115.

[25] Van der Heijden B, Brown Mahoney C, Xu Y. Impact of job demands and resources on nurses’ burnout and occupational turnover intention towards an age-moderated mediation model for the nursing profession. International Journal of Environmental Research of Public Health. 2019; 16: 2011.

[26] Huang J. Changes of job burnout in Chinese nurses over 2004–2013: cross-temporal meta-analysis. Current Psychology. 2018; 37: 583–590.

[27] Browning SG. Burnout in critical care nurses. Critical Care Nursing Clinics of North America. 2019; 31: 527–536.

[28] Boamah SA, Laschinger H. The influence of areas of worklife fit and work-life interference on burnout and turnover intentions among new graduate nurses. Journal of Nursing Management. 2016; 24: E164–E174.

[29] Eltaybani S, Noguchi-Watanabe M, Igarashia A, Saito Y, Yamamoto-Mitania N. Factors related to intention to stay in the current workplace among long-term care nurses: a nationwide survey. International Journal of Nursing Studies. 2018; 80: 118–127.

[30] Jacobo-Galicia G, Máynez-Guaderrama AI, Cavazos-Arroyo J. Fear of Covid, exhaustion and cynicism: its effect on the intention to drop out of college. European Journal of Education and Psychology. 2021.

[31] Liu J, Zheng J, Liu K, Liu X, Wu Y, Wang J, et al. Workplace violence against nurses, job satisfaction, burnout, and patient safety in Chinese hospitals. Nursing Outlook. 2019; 67: 558–566.

[32] Li Y, Jones C.B. A literature review of nursing turnover costs. Journal of Nursing Management. 2013; 21: 405–418.

[33] Leka S, Jain A, World Health Organization. Health Impact of Psychosocial Hazards at Work: An Overview. WHO: Geneva, Switzerland. 2010.

[34] Nielsen K. How can we make organizational interventions work?Employees and line managers as actively crafting interventions. Human Relations 2013; 66: 1029–1050.

[35] Nielsen K, Randall R, Holten A, González ER. Conducting organizational-level occupational health interventions: what works?Work and Stress. 2010; 24: 234–259.

[36] Tims M, Bakker AB, Derks D. Job crafting and performance: a longitudinal study. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology. 2015; 24: 914–928.

[37] Gordon HJ, Demerouti E, Le Blanc PM, Bakker AB, Bipp T, Verhagen MAMT. Individual job redesign: Job crafting interventions in healthcare. Journal of Vocational Behavior. 2018; 104: 98–114.

[38] Khan MS, Elahi N S, Abid G. Workplace incivility and job satisfaction: mediation of subjective well-being and moderation of forgiveness climate in health care sector. European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education. 2021; 11: 1107–1119.

[39] Wrzesniewski A, Dutton JE. Crafting a job: revisioning employees as active crafters of their work. Academy of Management Review. 2001; 26: 179–201.

[40] Bakker AB, Rodríguez-Muñoz A, Derks D. La emergencia de la psicología de la salud ocupacional positiva. Psicothema. 2012; 24: 66–72.(Spanish).

[41] Bakker AB, Ficapal-Cusí P, Rorrent-Sellens J, Boada-Grau J, Hontangas-Beltrán PM. The Spanish version of the Job Crafting Scale. Psicothema. 2018; 30: 136–142.

[42] Both-Nwabuwe JMC, Lips-Wiersma M, Dijkstra MTM, Beersma B. Nurses’ experience of individual, group-based, and professional autonomy. Nursing Outlook. 2019; 67: 734–746.

[43] Adams A, Hollingsworth A, Osman A. The implementation of a cultural change toolkit to reduce nursing burnout and mitigate nurse turnover in the emergency department. Journal of Emergency Nursing. 2019; 45: 452–456.

[44] Lazazzara A, Tims M, De Gennaro D. The process of reinventing a job: A meta-synthesis of qualitative job crafting research. Journal of Vocational Behavior. 2019; 116: 103267.

[45] Bakker AB, Tims M, Derks D. Proactive personality and job performance: the role of job crafting and work engagement. Human Relations. 2012; 65: 1359–1378.

[46] Rudolph CW, Katz IM, Lavigne KN, Zacher H. Job crafting: a meta-analysis of relationships with individual differences, job characteristics, and work outcomes. Journal of Vocational Behavior. 2017; 102: 112–138.

[47] Bateman TS, Crant JM. The proactive component of organizational behavior: a measure and correlates. Journal of Organizational Behavior. 1993; 14: 103–118.

[48] Crant JM. The proactive personality scale and objective job performance among real estate agents. Journal of Applied Psychology. 1995; 80: 532.

[49] Tolentino LR, Garcia PRJM, Lu VN, Restubog SLD, Bordia P, Plewa C. Career adaptation: the relation of adaptability to goal orientation, proactive personality, and career optimism. Journal of Vocational Behavior. 2014; 84: 39–48.

[50] Jiang Z. Proactive personality and career adaptability: the role of thriving at work. Journal of Vocational Behavior. 2017; 98: 85–97.

[51] Jawahar IM, Kisamore JL, Stone TH, Rahn DL. Differential effect of inter-role conflict on proactive individual’s experience of burnout. Journal of Business and Psychology. 2012; 27: 243–254.

[52] Akgunduz Y, Alkan C, Gök ÖA. Perceived organizational support, employee creativity and proactive personality: The mediating effect of meaning of work. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management. 2018; 34: 105–114.

[53] Buil I, Martínez E, Matute J. Transformational leadership and employee performance: the role of identification, engagement and proactive personality. International Journal of Hospitality Management. 2019; 77: 64–75.

[54] Siebert JU, Kunz RE, Rolf P. Effects of proactive decision making on life satisfaction. European Journal of Operational Research. 2020; 280: 1171–1187.

[55] Rosopa PJ, McIntyre AL, Fairbanks IN, D’Souza KB. Core self-evaluations, job complexity, and net worth: an examination of mediating and moderating factors. Personality and Individual Differences. 2019; 150: 109518.

[56] Anwar A, Abid G, Waqas A. Authentic leadership and creativity: moderated meditation model of resilience and hope in the health sector. European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education. 2019; 10: 18–29.

[57] Judge TA, Erez A, Bono JE. The power of being positive: the relationship between positive self-concept and job performance. Human Performance. 1998; 11: 167–187.

[58] Bandura A. Self-efficacy in changing societies. Cambridge University Press: Nueva York. 1999.

[59] Innocenti S, Cowan R. Self-efficacy beliefs and imitation: a two-armed bandit experiment. European Economic Review. 2019; 113: 156–172.

[60] Lussier RN. Human Relations in Organizations: Applications and Skill Building. 9th ed. McGraw-Hill: New York, EE.UU, USA. 2013. [61] Razek NA, Coyner SC. Impact of self-efficacy on Saudi students’ college performance. Academy of Educational Leadership Journal. 2014; 18: 85–96.

[62] Kurniawan MH, Hariyati TS, Afifah E. The relationship between caring preceptor, self-efficacy, job satisfaction, and new nurse performance. Enfermería Clínica. 2019; 29: 464–470.

[63] Martos Á, Pérez-Fuentes MC, Molero MM, Gázquez JJ, Simón MM, Barragán AB. Burnout y engagement en estudiantes de Ciencias de la Salud. European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education. 2018; 8: 23–36.

[64] Pérez-Fuentes MC, Molero MM, Barragán AB, Simón MM, Martos Á, Gázquez JJ. The Mediating role of perceived stress in the relationship of self-efficacy and work engagement in nurses. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2019; 8: 10.

[65] De Simone S, Planta A, Cicotto G. The role of job satisfaction, work engagement, self-efficacy and agentic capacities on nurses’ turnover intention and patient satisfaction. Applied Nursing Research. 2018; 39: 130–140.

[66] MarÃa del Carmen PÃ, del Mar Molero-Jurado MÃ. Analysis of burnout predictors in nursing: risk and protective psychological factors. European Journal of Psychology Applied to Legal Context. 2018; 11: 33–40.

[67] Pérez-Fuentes MC, Molero MM, Martos Á, Gázquez JJ. Analysis of the risk and protective roles of work-related and individual variables in burnout syndrome in nurses. Sustainability. 2019; 11: 5745.

[68] Molero MM, Pérez-Fuentes MC, Gázquez JJ. Analysis of the mediating role of self-efficacy and self-esteem on the effect of workload on burnout’s influence on nurses’ plans to work longer. Frontiers in Psychology. 2018; 9: 2605

[69] Molero MM, Pérez-Fuentes MC, Gázquez JJ, Barragán AB. Burnout in health professionals according to their self-esteem, social support and empathy profile. Frontiers in Psychology. 2018; 9: 424

[70] Higgins ET. Beyond pleasure and pain. American Psychologist. 1997; 52: 1280–1300.

[71] Gorman CA, Meriac JP, Overstreet BL, Apodaca S, McIntyre AL, Park, P, et al. A meta-analysis of the regulatory focus nomological network: work-related antecedents and consequences. Journal of Vocational Behavior. 2012; 80: 160–172.

[72] Langens TA. Regulatory focus and illusions of control. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 2007;33: 226–237.

[73] Johnson PD, Smith MB, Wallace JC, Hill AD, Baron RA. A review of multilevel regulatory focus in organizations. Journal of Management. 2015; 41: 1501–1529.

[74] Förster J, Grant H, Idson LC, Higgins ET. Success/failure feedback, expectancies, and approach/avoidance motivation: how regulatory focus moderates classic relations. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2001; 37: 253–260.

[75] Byron K, Peterson SJ, Zhang Z, LePine JA. Realizing challenges and guarding against threats: interactive effects of regulatory focus and stress on performance. Journal of Management. 2018; 44: 3011–3037.

[76] Chen Y, Wen Z, Ye M. Exploring profiles of work regulatory focus: a person-centered approach. Personality and Individual Differences. 2017; 116: 16–21.

[77] Guidice RM, Mero NP, Matthews LM, Greene JV. The influence of individual regulatory focus and accountability form in a high performance work system. Journal of Business Research. 2016; 69: 3332–3340.

[78] Demerouti E. Design your own job through job crafting. European Psychologist. 2014;19: 237–247.

[79] Tims M, Bakker A. Job crafting: towards a new model of individual job redesign. South African Journal of Industrial Psychology. 2010; 36: 1–9.

[80] Bakker A, Demerouti E. Job demands-resources theory: taking stock and looking forward. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology. 2017;22: 273–285.

[81] Demerouti E, Bakker A. Job crafting. In Peeters CW, Jonge J, Taris T.(eds.), An Introduction to Contemporary Work Psychology (pp. 415-432). Wiley-Blackwell: Chichester, UK. 2014.

[82] Salessi S. Adaptation of job crafting scale: evidence of validity in the argentine labor context. Psicodebate. 2020;20: 7–29.

[83] Faul F, Erdfelder E, Lang A, Buchner A. G*Power 3: a flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behavior Research Methods. 2007; 39: 175–191.

[84] Fellner B, Holler M, Kirchler E, Schabmann A. Regulatory focus scale (RFS): development of a scale to record dispositional regulatory focus. Swiss Journal of Psychology. 2007; 66: 109–116.

[85] Sanjuán P, Pérez-García AM, Bermúdez J. Escala de autoeficacia general: datos psicométricos de la adaptación para población española. Psicothema. 2000; 12: 509–513. (Spanish).

[86] Baessler J, Schwarcer R. Evaluación de la autoeficacia: Adaptación española de la escala de Autoeficacia General. Ansiedad y Estrés. 1996; 2: 1–8. (Spanish).

[87] Tims M, Bakker AB, Derks D. Development and validation of the job crafting scale. Journal of Vocational Behavior. 2012; 80: 173–186.

[88] Jiménez BM, Rodríguez RB, Alvarez AM, Caballero TM. La evaluación del burnout: Problemas y alternativas: EL CBB como evaluación de los elementos del proceso. Revista de Psicología del Trabajo y de las Organizaciones. 1997; 13: 185–208. (Spanish).

[89] Pérez-Fuentes MC, Molero MM, Martos Á, Gázquez JJ. New burnout evaluation model based on the brief burnout questionnaire: psychometric properties for nursing. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2018; 15: 1–12.

[90] Hayes AF. Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: a regression-based approach. The Guilford Press. New York, EE. UU, USA. 2017.

[91] Cui N, Wang R, Song F, Jin J. Experiences and perceptions of male nursing students in a single-sex class: a qualitative descriptive study. Nurse Education in Practice. 2021; 51: 102996.

[92] Gupta GR, Oomman N, Grown C, et al. Gender equality and gender norms: framing the opportunities for health. The Lancet. 2019; 393: 2550–2562.