Suchergebnisse

AbstractThis study examines policy implementation as it unfolds from policy, to the contractors and then to its impact on employees delivering the social service. Multilevel statistical analysis is used to examine survey data from 36 contractors and 542 employees. The use of multilevel analysis provides a methodological tool and subsequent analysis new to the discipline of public administration. The results indicate a strong positive association between resource (in)adequacy decision‐making at the contractor level and employee outcomes. The contribution of the paper is new evidence to support the widening of existing quality care indicators to include organisational support metrics for contractors.

AbstractThis paper empirically uses a street‐level bureaucrat (SLB) lens to compare the impact of personal and organisational support on the innovative behaviour of frontline healthcare workers in Australia and the United States. Survey data came from the 260 U.S. and 220 Australian respondents. The structural equation model shows that organisational (i.e. manager–subordinate relationships) and personal supports (i.e. psychological capital [PsyCap]) significantly influence the innovative behaviour of frontline SLBs in health care. Further, the mediation results show that reciprocal social exchanges provide the foundations for facilitating the growth of healthcare workers' PsyCap, which then gives them the resilience to be innovative in the workplace. The U.S. respondents perceived stronger organisational support and consequently had a better platform for building PsyCap – providing better work conditions for facilitating innovative behaviour to bourgeon. The paper adds to SLB theory concerning the influence of two variables on SLBs' innovative behaviour, in addition to a meaningful comparison of the U.S. and Australian healthcare workers. If governments and organisations want innovative workers, then the policies must be based on empirical evidence that shows the impact on all stakeholders, including SLBs, because otherwise, irrespective of policy directives, the outcome is low levels of employee wellbeing (which likely results in limited innovative activity).

AbstractThis paper is guided by Conservation of Resources theory and aims to investigate the impact of personal and organisational support on the quality of clinical care given to aged care residents in for‐profit (FP) and not‐for‐profit (NFP) facilities. Broadly, the paper addresses challenges faced by governments in designing contract specifications that ensure quality outcomes from aged care providers. The argument is that the present accreditation standards that are used to assess the status of aged care providers are too narrow to capture the complexity in delivering social services. Data were collected from 442 aged care workers from aged care facilities in NSW, QLD and WA. The results show that carer support (personal and organisational support) explained half of the variance in quality of clinical care in NFP facilities, and a third of the variance in FP facilities. In particular, the findings suggest support for carers is important for carer retention, and ultimately the clinical care of residents. The findings provide supporting evidence to widen the required contract specifications for aged care provider accreditation to include organisational and personal support for carers.

AbstractThere is a need to understand how leadership affects the well‐being of local government employees working under conditions of prolonged austerity‐driven reforms. A total of 118 Australian local government employees were surveyed. The analysis involved hierarchical regression using the PROCESS macro in SPSS, which identified the total, direct, and bootstrapped bias‐corrected indirect effects. The findings suggest that managers demonstrated some leadership behaviours required to lead staff positively; however, authentic leadership behaviours need to be strengthened to ensure they can lead an under‐resourced, under‐staffed sector of government. These findings are consistent with recent findings from the Australian Local Government Association analysis of gaps in the skill profile of local government. Authentic leadership and PsyCap capabilities are known to increase sector capability, especially to achieve higher outcomes in a time when austerity is still driving policy. Local government is not sustainable without effective leadership that can navigate austerity‐led policies with agility based on constructive feedback to ensure a productive workplace that enhances employee well‐being.