IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v15y2018i7p1345-d154642.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Importance of External Contacts in Job Performance: A Study in Healthcare Organizations Using Social Network Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Pilar Marqués-Sánchez

    (SALBIS Research Group, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Leon, Campus of Ponferrada s/n, 24401 Ponferrada, León, Spain)

  • María F. Muñoz-Doyague

    (School of Economics and Management, University of Leon, Facultad de Económicas y Empresariales, Campus de Vegazana, 24071 León, Spain)

  • Yolanda V. Martínez

    (NIHR School for Primary Care Research, Centre for Primary Care, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK)

  • Martin Everett

    (School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK)

  • Nestor Serrano-Fuentes

    (Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southampton, University Road, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK)

  • Peter Van Bogaert

    (Division of Nursing and Midwifery Sciences, Centre for Research and Innovation in Care (CRIC), Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, B-2610 Wilrijk, Belgium)

  • Ivaylo Vassilev

    (Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southampton, University Road, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK)

  • David Reeves

    (NIHR School for Primary Care Research, Centre for Primary Care, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK)

Abstract

There is evidence that relations between physicians and nurses within healthcare institutions might be shaped by informal aspects of such relations and by links to people external to the organization, with an impact on work performance. Social network analysis is underutilized in exploring such associations. The paper aims to describe physicians’ and nurses’ relationships outside their clinical units and to explore what kind of ties are related to job performance. A network analysis was performed on cross-sectional data. The study population consisted of 196 healthcare employees working in a public hospital and a primary healthcare centre in Spain. Relational data were analysed using the UCINET software package. Measures included: (i) sample characteristics; (ii) social network variables; and (iii) team performance ratings. Descriptive statistics (means, medians, percentages) were used to characterize staff and performance ratings. A correlational analysis was conducted to examine the strength of relationships between four different types of ties. Our findings suggest that external ties only contribute to improving the performance of physicians at both the individual and team level. They are focused on the decision-making process about the therapeutic plan and, therefore, might need to seek advice outside the workplace. In contrast, external ties are not relevant for the work performance of nurses, as they need to find solutions to immediate problems in a short period of time, having strong ties in the workplace. Social network analysis can illuminate relations within healthcare organizations and inform the development of innovative interventions.

Suggested Citation

  • Pilar Marqués-Sánchez & María F. Muñoz-Doyague & Yolanda V. Martínez & Martin Everett & Nestor Serrano-Fuentes & Peter Van Bogaert & Ivaylo Vassilev & David Reeves, 2018. "The Importance of External Contacts in Job Performance: A Study in Healthcare Organizations Using Social Network Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-17, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:7:p:1345-:d:154642
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/7/1345/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/7/1345/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mark Tranmer & David Steel & William J. Browne, 2014. "Multiple-membership multiple-classification models for social network and group dependences," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 177(2), pages 439-455, February.
    2. Alharbi, Tariq Saleem J. & Ekman, Inger & Olsson, Lars-Eric & Dudas, Kerstin & Carlström, Eric, 2012. "Organizational culture and the implementation of person centered care: Results from a change process in Swedish hospital care," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(2), pages 294-301.
    3. Aoife De Brún & Eilish McAuliffe, 2018. "Social Network Analysis as a Methodological Approach to Explore Health Systems: A Case Study Exploring Support among Senior Managers/Executives in a Hospital Network," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-11, March.
    4. Ajay Mehra & Andrea L. Dixon & Daniel J. Brass & Bruce Robertson, 2006. "The Social Network Ties of Group Leaders: Implications for Group Performance and Leader Reputation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(1), pages 64-79, February.
    5. West, Elizabeth & Barron, David N. & Dowsett, Juliet & Newton, John N., 1999. "Hierarchies and cliques in the social networks of health care professionals: implications for the design of dissemination strategies," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 48(5), pages 633-646, March.
    6. Oliver, Kathryn & Everett, Martin & Verma, Arpana & de Vocht, Frank, 2012. "The human factor: Re-organisations in public health policy," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 106(1), pages 97-103.
    7. Vincens, Natalia & Emmelin, Maria & Stafström, Martin, 2018. "Social capital, income inequality and the social gradient in self-rated health in Latin America: A fixed effects analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 115-122.
    8. Wenpin Tsai, 2000. "Social capital, strategic relatedness and the formation of intraorganizational linkages," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(9), pages 925-939, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dongxiao Gu & Jingjing Guo & Changyong Liang & Wenxing Lu & Shuping Zhao & Bing Liu & Tianyue Long, 2019. "Social Media-Based Health Management Systems and Sustained Health Engagement: TPB Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-15, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hongjuan Zhang & Liang Wang & Rong Han, 2019. "The China-West divide on social capital: A meta-analysis," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 36(3), pages 745-772, September.
    2. Zhu, Weichun & Zhou, Jinyi & Sosik, John J., 2022. "The child is parent of the adult: A longitudinal examination of the effect of adolescent destructive deviance on lifetime career success," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 535-544.
    3. Harmancioglu, Nukhet & Grinstein, Amir & Goldman, Arieh, 2010. "Innovation and performance outcomes of market information collection efforts: The role of top management team involvement," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 33-43.
    4. Li, Dan, 2013. "Multilateral R&D alliances by new ventures," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 241-260.
    5. Barış Alpaslan & Julide Yildirim, 2020. "The Missing Link: Are Individuals with More Social Capital in Better Health? Evidence from India," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 150(3), pages 811-834, August.
    6. Tröster, Christian & Mehra, Ajay & van Knippenberg, Daan, 2014. "Structuring for team success: The interactive effects of network structure and cultural diversity on team potency and performance," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 124(2), pages 245-255.
    7. Tirta Mursitama, 2006. "Creating relational rents: The effect of business groups on affiliated firms’ performance in Indonesia," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 537-557, December.
    8. Torres de Oliveira, Rui & Rottig, Daniel, 2018. "Chinese acquisitions of developed market firms: Home semi-formal institutions and a supportive partnering approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 230-241.
    9. Lee, Ho & Kim, Moon Sun & Kim, Kyung Kyu, 2014. "Interorganizational information systems visibility and supply chain performance," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 285-295.
    10. Lewis, Jenny M., 2006. "Being around and knowing the players: Networks of influence in health policy," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(9), pages 2125-2136, May.
    11. Llopis, Oscar & D'Este, Pablo & McKelvey, Maureen & Yegros, Alfredo, 2022. "Navigating multiple logics: Legitimacy and the quest for societal impact in science," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    12. Zhang, Yin & Lu, Baozhou & Zheng, Haidong, 2020. "Can buzzing bring business? Social interactions, network centrality and sales performance: An empirical study on business-to-business communities," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 170-189.
    13. Manuel Carlos Vallejo-Martos, 2016. "Institutionalism and the Influence of the Cultural Values of the Family Subsystem on the Management of the Small–Medium Family Firms," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(1), pages 119-137, January.
    14. Camisón, César & Forés, Beatriz, 2011. "Knowledge creation and absorptive capacity: The effect of intra-district shared competences," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 66-86, March.
    15. Wei Shan & Chu Zhang & Jingyi Wang, 2018. "Internal Social Network, Absorptive Capacity and Innovation: Evidence from New Ventures in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-27, April.
    16. Yin Chen & Yong Long & Jianyin Bai, 2019. "Effect of Positional Embeddedness on Tour Supplier Integration: Chinese Evidence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-21, October.
    17. Hanf, J. & Andreä, K., 2005. "„As a Consequence of Change – Supply Chain Networks in the Agri- Food Business”," Proceedings “Schriften der Gesellschaft für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften des Landbaues e.V.”, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA), vol. 40, March.
    18. Ciaran Heavey & Zeki Simsek, 2015. "Transactive Memory Systems and Firm Performance: An Upper Echelons Perspective," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(4), pages 941-959, August.
    19. Rizova, Polly S. & Gupta, Samir & Maltz, Elliot N. & Walker, Robert W., 2018. "Overcoming equivocality on projects in the fuzzy front end: Bringing social networks back in," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 40-55.
    20. Viswanath Venkatesh & Tracy Ann Sykes, 2013. "Digital Divide Initiative Success in Developing Countries: A Longitudinal Field Study in a Village in India," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(2), pages 239-260, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:7:p:1345-:d:154642. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.