Keeping nurses engaged during COVID-19: An i-deal perspective

SA Journal of Industrial Psychology

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Keeping nurses engaged during COVID-19: An i-deal perspective
 
Creator Ngobeni, Precious Dhanpat, Nelesh
 
Subject organisational behaviour; positive psychology; human resource management COVID-19; nurses; i-deals; work engagement; customised work arrangements; private hospitals
Description Orientation: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted all job sectors. Arguably, the hardest hit were healthcare institutions. Nurses are at the front line, and it is known that the pandemic added pressure to the way nurses performed their duties. Their working schedules became more complex, including longer hours, as nurses dealt with high rates of COVID-19 cases while still dealing with other healthcare issues.Research purpose: The study aimed to establish the relationship between idiosyncratic deals (i-deals) and work engagement of nurses. The study focused on these three types of i-deals - task, flexibility and career. It investigated which i-deals best predict work engagement among nurses.Motivation for the study: There is a need to understand the work arrangements of nurses during the pandemic through i-deals. Although research on idiosyncratic deals has become popular in international research, there is scant research within the South African context.Research approach/design and method: The sample consisted of 220 nurses working in three private hospitals in Gauteng, South Africa. Inferential statistics and regression analysis were used to achieve the research objectives.Main findings: The study’s findings revealed a correlation between the three types of i-deals and work engagement. However, only task and flexibility i-deals predicted work engagement. The COVID-19 pandemic added pressure to the healthcare industry and to nurses’ challenges. The pandemic highlighted the importance of having an engaged nursing workforce. Thus, recommendations and suggestions for nurses, nursing managers and human resource managers are provided.Practical/managerial implications: The concept of i-deals is a reasonably new phenomenon within HR practices, and there is no empirical research within the South African context.Contribution/value-add: The study adds value by providing insight into customised work arrangements, from an i-deal perspective, during a much appropriate time and urgently needed for nurses.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2022-10-28
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Quantitative; cross-sectional
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/sajip.v48i0.1971
 
Source SA Journal of Industrial Psychology; Vol 48 (2022); 11 pages 2071-0763 0258-5200
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://sajip.co.za/index.php/sajip/article/view/1971/3534 https://sajip.co.za/index.php/sajip/article/view/1971/3535 https://sajip.co.za/index.php/sajip/article/view/1971/3536 https://sajip.co.za/index.php/sajip/article/view/1971/3537
 
Coverage South Africa; Gauteng — Age; Gender; Nursing ranks
Rights Copyright (c) 2022 Precious Ngobeni, Nelesh Dhanpat https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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