Healthcare professionals' voice as a road to burnout and work engagement? The role of relational outcomes: an exploratory study of European countries

Abstract

Purpose – Healthcare professionals are key in healthcare organisations but are subject to long working hours and may have to make complex life-and-death decisions. As frontline agents dealing with human lives, giving them a voice is paramount. This study explores the impact of employee voice (assessed based on employee perceptions on how much they are consulted and how much influence they have on task-related decisions) on health professionals’ work engagement and burnout when mediated by relational outcomes (perceived organisational support, workplace trust, workplace recognition and meaningful work). Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 3,266 health professionals retrieved from the European Working Condition Survey was used. The quantitative analysis was performed using the partial least square structural equation modelling and multiple regression analyses. Findings – The results indicate that employee voice has a direct positive impact on work engagement, but employee voice’s direct effects on burnout still need to be confirmed. Relational outcomes are found to mediate the relationship between employee voice and burnout (decreasing it) and between employee voice and work engagement (increasing it). Practical implications – Practices of employee voice in the workplace are fundamental to promoting health professionals’ well-being. Trust, recognition, support and the feeling of doing meaningful work increase the influence of employee voice, especially in reducing the levels of burnout. Originality/value – This is the first study that assesses, at a European level, the importance that ‘giving health professionals a voice’ has on crucial employee outcomes: work engagement, burnout and relational outcomes.