The Importance of External Contacts in Job Performance: A Study in Healthcare Organizations Using Social Network Analysis

Abstract

There is evidence that relations between physicians and nurses within healthcare institutions might be shaped by informal aspects of such relations and by links to people external to the organization, with an impact on work performance. Social network analysis is underutilized in exploring such associations. The paper aims to describe physicians’ and nurses’ relationships outside their clinical units and to explore what kind of ties are related to job performance. A network analysis was performed on cross-sectional data. The study population consisted of 196 healthcare employees working in a public hospital and a primary healthcare centre in Spain. Relational data were analysed using the UCINET software package. Measures included: (i) sample characteristics; (ii) social network variables; and (iii) team performance ratings. Descriptive statistics (means, medians, percentages) were used to characterize staff and performance ratings. A correlational analysis was conducted to examine the strength of relationships between four different types of ties. Our findings suggest that external ties only contribute to improving the performance of physicians at both the individual and team level. They are focused on the decision-making process about the therapeutic plan and, therefore, might need to seek advice outside the workplace. In contrast, external ties are not relevant for the work performance of nurses, as they need to find solutions to immediate problems in a short period of time, having strong ties in the workplace. Social network analysis can illuminate relations within healthcare organizations and inform the development of innovative interventions.

Work-life conflict, gender-based discrimination, and their associations among professionals in a medical university and affiliated hospitals in Japan: A cross-sectional study

“…In medical universities and affiliated hospitals, a variety of workers, including members of the academic faculty, practicing physicians, nurses, technicians, therapists and clerks, are working together on a regular basis. Such interdisciplinary collaboration of healthcare workers is an indispensable part of modern medical practice 13) . Since worklife patterns are known to affect teamwork and safety climates in the workplace 14) , the enhancement of organizational wellbeing is extremely important to improve the effectiveness and quality of healthcare delivery 15) .…”

A personal network approach to the study of nurse champions of innovation and their innovation projects’ spread

“…On one hand, studies (e.g. Creswick & Westbrook, 2010; Marqués‐Sánchez et al., 2018) demonstrated that heterophilic networks generate barriers between alters and increase the complexity of communication among them: different categories of alters (e.g. alters from different ethnic or age groups) are likely to forge cohesive advice and communication ties with members of their own professional group, whereas their connections with members of other professions are likely to be sporadic and fragmented.…”

“…These findings might indicate that when the strength of ties among alters is similar, liking and trust among alters is facilitated. In other words, the consistency and predictability of the relationships among network members, precisely in times of stress and uncertainty characterizing organizational innovation, may outweigh the combination of strong and weak ties and enhance confidence among members, facilitating knowledge transfer and innovation-project spread (e.g Marqués-Sánchez et al, 2018;Ouedraogo & Ouakouak, 2018)…”

Developing Knowledge-Based Resources: The Role of Entrepreneurs’ Social Network Size and Trust

“…The extant literature about networks has focused on network structure [36,45], network dimensions, and strong and weak ties [20,46]. Scholars also have studied how a social network develops [47]; the value produced by a social network in an uncertain environment [48,49]; and how it influences individual health [50], job performance [51] or a firm's performance [47]. But most of these studies were conducted in Western countries [52], while little has been done in a country with a transitional economy such as that found in China [53].…”