BackgroundOur overarching study objective is to further our understanding of the work psychology of Health Support Workers (HSWs) in long-term care and home and community care settings in Ontario, Canada. Specifically, we seek novel insights about the relationships among aspects of these workers’ work environments, their work attitudes, and work outcomes in the interests of informing the development of human resource programs to enhance elder care.MethodsWe conducted a path analysis of data collected via a survey administered to a convenience sample of Ontario HSWs engaged in the delivery of elder care over July–August 2015.ResultsHSWs’ work outcomes, including intent to stay, organizational citizenship behaviors, and performance, are directly and significantly related to their work attitudes, including job satisfaction, work engagement, and affective organizational commitment. These in turn are related to how HSWs perceive their work environments including their quality of work life (QWL), their perceptions of supervisor support, and their perceptions of workplace safety.ConclusionsHSWs’ work environments are within the power of managers to modify. Our analysis suggests that QWL, perceptions of supervisor support, and perceptions of workplace safety present particularly promising means by which to influence HSWs’ work attitudes and work outcomes. Furthermore, even modest changes to some aspects of the work environment stand to precipitate a cascade of positive effects on work outcomes through work attitudes.

PurposeOrganizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) have been studied in both private and public sector organizations in countries around the globe. The purpose of this study is to compare the perceptions of the OCB construct between American and Portuguese public secondary school teachers and test an operational measure of the construct for schools across the two cultures.Design/methodology/approachTeachers' perceptions of the OCB in their schools were measured using the Organizational Citizenship Behavior Scale. This operational measure, developed in the USA, was translated for use with Portuguese teachers. Data from samples of US and Portuguese secondary schools were compared. Principal axis factor analyses, reliability coefficients, and other descriptive data were used to verify the factor structures, number of factors, and reliability of the measure across these two cultures.FindingsBoth versions of the OCB Scale (American and Portuguese) were reliable and stable; they worked well for both high schools and middle schools in Portugal and in the USA. One factor of organizational citizenship emerged. The operational measure used to measure OCB in public schools in this study is reliable and stable, despite cultural differences.Practical implicationsOCB are important because they influence organizational effectiveness. Despite cultural variations, and dramatic historical differences in their public education systems, this operational measure of OCB was effective. It provides researchers and practitioners a reliable and valid measure to assess the OCB of school organizations.Originality/valueThis was the first attempt to determine the integrity of an operational measure of OCB across cultures. The construct has been studied in schools in different countries using different operational measures, which blurred the definition of the construct and made it difficult to study and compare to other variables of effectiveness.

The aim of the present study is to investigate the extent to which perceived organizational support and coworkers’ conflict and work-family conflict play a role in the performance of three types of organizational citizenship behaviors. A cross-sectional design was used comprising a sample of 164 health support workers working in Portuguese elderly care facilities. Using structural equation model findings showed that perceived organizational support is linked with organizational citizenship behaviors, directly and indirectly, via work-family conflict. Furthermore, coworkers’ conflict was also related with organizational citizenship behaviors, directly and indirectly via work-family conflict. The linkage between perceived organizational support and coworkers’ conflict through work-family conflict can offer new insights into how to enhance organizational citizenship behaviors by active management. These findings can help elderly care organizations and their managers to design better workplace conditions where organizational support and coworkers’ conflict can be better managed allowing workers to have more control over work-family conflict and promoting organizational citizenship behaviors.