How do I stand compared to agency workers? Justice perceptions and employees' counterproductive work behaviours

Abstract

Aims To test the influence of comparative procedural justice on the counterproductive behaviours of permanent nurses and care attendants who work with agency workers, and explore whether the perceived climate of competition between permanent and agency workers alters this relationship. Background Despite steady reliance on agency workers in the health care sector, there is a dearth of research on the reactions of permanent employees who may respond negatively to the presence of this external workforce. Methods Questionnaires were distributed to employees of three long‐term care facilities and their supervisors. Hypotheses were tested using moderated mediation analyses on a sample of 232 employee–supervisor dyads. Results Comparative procedural justice was indirectly related to counterproductive behaviours via employees' organization‐based self‐esteem. This relationship was weaker when perceived climate of competition was high. Conclusion Promoting high levels of comparative procedural justice among permanent employees, rather than status differences with agency employees, should avert behaviours that could harm organizational functioning and therefore patient care. Implications for nursing management We discuss the leadership challenges to support neutral treatment and avoid the development of a competitive climate between permanent and agency workers (e.g., politics based on respect and collaboration, positive leadership).

Social comparison and perceived envy‐motivated communication involving travel nurses: A qualitative study

“…Because temporary nurses typically receive better financial rewards than permanent nurses (Hurst & Smith, 2010), different remunerations among nurses who perform the same work inevitably surface nuances distinguished by employment status. Hence, comparison and competition for limited resources are practical concerns among nursing management scholars (Lapalme & Guerrero, 2019).…”

“…The global nursing shortage and proliferating employment opportunities at international destinations promote alternative work arrangements such as agency and travel nursing (Baumann, Hunsberger, & Crea‐Arsenio, ; Birmingham, Mortel, Needham, & Latimer, ; Cicellin, Pezzillo Iacono, Berni, & Esposito, ; Gan, ; Lapalme & Guerrero, ). As transient hybrid teams of permanent and temporary nurses become increasingly common, this trend constantly reshapes nurses’ workplace relationships (Gan, ).…”

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“…Nurses are required to give utmost priority to the health and safety of patients (Andersson et al., 2016 ; Broadhurst & Harrington, 2016 ; de Macedo et al., 2012 ) even if it requires their breaking the rules. Nurses have constructive and pro‐social motives, as their ultimate goal is to ensure the health of their patients (Lapalme & Guerrero, 2019 ; Zaghini et al., 2016 ). This phenomenon is often referred to as constructive deviance, in which employees deviate from an organization's formal rules for constructive reasons (Banja, 2010 ).…”

“…Nurses are required to give utmost priority to the health and safety of patients (Andersson et al, 2016;Broadhurst & Harrington, 2016;de Macedo et al, 2012) even if it requires their breaking the rules. Nurses have constructive and pro-social motives, as their ultimate goal is to ensure the health of their patients (Lapalme & Guerrero, 2019;Zaghini et al, 2016).…”

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“…Permanent members feel repulsed by temporaries’ presence because they feel their organizational identity and access to organizational resources threatened (Davis-Blake et al , 2003; George, 2003). The sense of threat depends on permanent members’ assumptions about the organization’s intention with using temporary labor, whether permanents see themselves as core or periphery in the organization and whether they can influence the temporaries’ work tasks (Boyce et al , 2007; Lapalme and Guerrero, 2019).…”