Search Results (616)

Food delivery riders face a structural shortage of informal street rest spaces in urban public environments, yet existing facilities often fail to match their highly mobile labor processes. Taking the Hexi University Town commercial district in Changsha as a case study, this research examines how rest-space conditions are associated with riders’ occupational dignity and work environment satisfaction. Based on 365 valid questionnaires, field observations, and informal interviews, structural equation modeling, bootstrap mediation analysis, and grouped regression analysis were conducted within a spatial justice framework. The results show that spatial justice perceptions are associated with satisfaction through differentiated pathways. Spatial embeddedness is associated with work environment satisfaction, while facility suitability operates partly through occupational dignity and has the highest mediation proportion. Procedural justice is insignificant in formal spaces but has a strong effect in informal spaces, revealing a mismatch between institutional provision and practical accessibility. The findings indicate that riders’ rest-space dilemma stems not only from insufficient facilities but also from the disembedding of spatial rights from mobile labor processes. This study extends spatial justice research from resource distribution to labor-process embeddedness and proposes micro-renewal strategies that shift from facility provision to process embeddedness, offering implications for inclusive public-space planning, sustainable urban design, and urban governance. Full article

Strategic competition in health service markets requires managers to make pricing, marketing, and investment decisions under uncertainty, yet educational programs in healthcare management and dietetics lack experiential tools for teaching these competencies within a game-theoretic framework. This study develops and computationally validates SY142-Game-Theory-1, a computational simulation framework that models strategic competition between two asymmetric healthy living centers as a 36-month repeated Prisoner’s Dilemma, integrating demand decomposition, net present value analysis, employee satisfaction dynamics with burnout thresholds, reputation feedback, and stochastic shock events. The simulation produces a valid and distinctly asymmetric Prisoner’s Dilemma structure in which the established provider faces the classical temptation to defect while the new entrant’s rational incentive aligns with cooperation; Axelrod-style tournaments across 22 strategies (96,800 simulations) identify Forgiving Tit-for-Tat as the top-performing strategy; Monte Carlo validation (n = 1000) confirms a statistically significant cooperation premium of 24.1% over Nash equilibrium; and sensitivity analyses across four parameters demonstrate robustness of all qualitative findings. The open-source framework bridges game theory, simulation-based learning, and health service management education, providing a computationally validated foundation for teaching strategic decision-making in competitive healthcare environments, with empirical evaluation of learning outcomes reserved for future work. Full article

This study examines how faculty and staff experienced the WHOLE Experience Framework (WEF) and its perceived effectiveness in facilitating Belonging, Access, and Inclusive Excellence (BAIE) professional development workshops at a Hispanic Serving Institution. Grounded in andragogical theory and Universal Design for Learning, the WEF comprises five core components: Welcoming, Holistic, Open, Liberating, and Empowering. Using the workshop research methodology, this study engaged 164 faculty and staff across five workshops, assessing participants’ experiences with the framework and their confidence in applying BAIE principles in their professional practice. The survey results (n = 51) revealed high levels of participant satisfaction and reported increases in BAIE knowledge and confidence. Facilitators modeled active learning strategies to implement WEF components. The findings suggest that participants experienced the WEF as an effective framework for facilitating meaningful professional development experiences that prepare participants to integrate culturally responsive and access-centered practices into their work environments. Full article

Background: Perceived inequity in work allocation has well-documented consequences for nurse job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and patient safety. Despite this recognition, empirical research examining how nurses in Middle Eastern healthcare contexts conceptualize allocation justice remains limited. This qualitative study explored Saudi registered nurses’ perceptions of work allocation justice, identified the organizational factors shaping those perceptions, and examined their implications for nurse well-being and quality of care. Methods: A qualitative design employing reflexive thematic analysis was used, grounded in constructivism. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with 17 purposively sampled registered nurses from three Riyadh-based healthcare facilities. Credibility was established through data, method, and analyst triangulation; peer debriefing; and member checking (12 of the 17 participants were purposively selected for member checking to represent the full range of experiences; 11 of those 12 confirmed thematic plausibility). Thematic saturation was reached at interview 13. Results: Six interconnected themes emerged: (1) Understanding Work Justice; (2) Personal Experiences; (3) Influencing Factors; (4) Psychological and Professional Impacts; (5) Institutional and Administrative Support; and (6) Future Perspectives. Participants define fairness as contextual equity and relational respect rather than simple numerical equality. Inequities were driven by staffing constraints, leadership styles, and policy gaps, leading to burnout and reduced organizational commitment. Conclusions: Saudi nurses experience meaningful allocation inequities arising from structural constraints, leadership variability, and the absence of written allocation policies. Addressing these inequities requires coordinated action on policy transparency, objective criteria, and psychologically safe communication channels. These findings provide contextually grounded, evidence-informed guidance for developing equitable nursing work environments that support workforce retention and patient safety. Full article

A participatory school climate refers to the involvement of school administrators, teachers, and other school members in decision-making processes, their sharing of responsibility, and their collaborative work for school improvement. Since this climate can be related to individual, organizational, and contextual factors such as leadership, job satisfaction, diversity beliefs, workload, well-being, and national context, identifying the key variables that support a participatory school environment is important. This study used TALIS 2024 school administrator data to identify the main predictors of participatory school climate and examined the mediating role of school administrator job satisfaction in the relationship between school administrator leadership, used here in line with school principal leadership, and participatory school climate. The research is based on a two-stage analytical framework. In the first stage, explanatory machine learning analysis was conducted by comparing Elastic Net, Random Forest, and XGBoost models; the relative significance levels of the variables were evaluated using permutation importance and SHAP methods. In the second stage, mediation analysis was performed using multi-level linear mixed models, considering clustering at the national level; the indirect association was evaluated using bootstrap confidence intervals. The analyses were conducted using data from 16,335 school administrators. The findings showed that the highest prediction performance was produced by the XGBoost model and that model performance improved with the inclusion of the country variable. Explainability analyses indicated that school administrator leadership was the strongest predictor of participatory school climate, followed by job satisfaction and diversity beliefs. Multilevel models suggested that the association between school administrator leadership and participatory school climate was consistent, with an indirect pathway through school administrator job satisfaction; bootstrap findings also supported the statistical stability of this indirect association. These findings suggest that a participatory school climate is associated not only with individual perceptions but also with multifaceted conditions such as leadership, job satisfaction, inclusivity, and country context. By combining explanatory machine learning with multilevel statistical modeling, this study identifies variables associated with participatory school climate and examines an indirect association among leadership, job satisfaction, and participatory climate. Because TALIS survey weights and the full complex sampling design were not incorporated, the findings should be interpreted as associations observed in the pooled analytical sample rather than as population-representative estimates for participating education systems. Full article

Background: Pediatric hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) conveys significant risk of mortality, morbidity, impaired quality of life, and multifactorial distress. One potential strategy for improving experience and relieving suffering is proactive specialty palliative care (SPC) utilization. However, SPC is not routinely incorporated into pediatric HCT. One barrier to SPC integration is unknown pediatric HCT provider perceptions of SPC services, particularly among providers with lived experience working within a collaborative HCT-SPC partnership. Objective: This single-institution pilot study aimed to (1) describe an approach to standardized, proactive pediatric HCT-SPC clinical partnership, and (2) quantify acceptability, appropriateness, and satisfaction regarding the program among pediatric HCT providers. Methods: Survey methods were used to assess attitudes among HCT providers who had worked with the SPC clinical partnership for at least three months. Core survey metrics were the validated Acceptability of Intervention Measure and Intervention Appropriateness Measure. Additional survey items were adapted from the Perceptions of Palliative Care Instrument. Results: Respondents reported high mean scores for acceptability (4.96) and appropriateness (4.93) on a 5-point scale. Overall satisfaction with SPC integration averaged 8.72 (SD 1.13) on a 10-point scale. Satisfaction scores for each individual service provided by SPC were similarly high. No significant differences in responses were found based on provider type, prior SPC training, or years in practice. Conclusions: In this single-institution pilot study, pediatric HCT providers with lived experience working in an environment with standardized SPC collaboration view SPC as highly acceptable, appropriate, and beneficial for their patients, supporting the feasibility and value of proactive SPC integration in pediatric HCT care. Full article

Background/Objectives: Retention of healthcare professionals in the workforce, their employment, and the improvement of working conditions largely depend on identifying the factors that influence their departure and their health. The study was conducted during the period from January to June 2021. This study aimed to examine the association between specific work-related stressors and work ability. The initial hypothesis was that general and specific occupational stressors negatively associate with work ability among healthcare professionals in emergency medical intervention teams. Methods: The study was designed as a cross-sectional comparative study. It was conducted among nurses and physicians in pre-hospital emergency medical services, employed full-time in intervention teams, while the control group consisted of employees from dispatch and call-receiving units. The study was conducted on the 840 participants, representing 43.3% of all healthcare professionals employed in pre-hospital emergency medical services in the Republic of Croatia. In addition to questions on participants’ personal characteristics, the following instruments were used: 1. a validated Questionnaire on Workplace Stressors among hospital healthcare professionals; and 2. the international standardized Work Ability Index (WAI) questionnaire for assessing work ability. Participants completed the questionnaires in paper form. Results: On average, the participants demonstrated lower levels of stress compared to reference values, both for overall stress and for individual stress factors, while their work ability, assessed using the Work Ability Index (WAI), ranged from very good to excellent. The control group showed higher levels of stress across all factors and lower work ability. However, the control group was older on average, generally had lower levels of education, and consisted more often of women—personal characteristics that may influence the examined variables. Lower stress levels and better work ability were associated with job satisfaction, ambition, and the fact that participants were working in their desired profession. Frequent sick leave (absenteeism) was highly correlating with both higher stress levels and poorer work ability. Conclusions: Greater job satisfaction and higher motivation have a positive impact on stress levels and employees’ work ability. The study results can serve as a starting point for institutional management in designing feasible decisions aimed at improving satisfaction, health, the work environment, and the work ability of emergency medical service personnel, as well as making these institutions more attractive for recruitment and retention of employees both in their positions and within the profession. Full article

Background: Public healthcare systems face persistent workforce retention challenges that undermine service continuity, organizational resilience, and public value creation. Although leadership is frequently identified as a relevant lever, the literature remains theoretically fragmented and often treats leadership effects as direct and context-free. Methods: This review adopts a PRISMA-guided systematic literature review as a theory-building strategy. Searches were conducted in Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed using combinations of terms related to leadership, organizational commitment, job satisfaction, turnover intention, and retention in healthcare settings. The review identified 640 records, removed 372 duplicates, screened 268 titles and abstracts, assessed 90 full-text records for eligibility, and retained 30 peer-reviewed studies for configurative synthesis. The analysis combined thematic synthesis with configurative mapping to identify mechanisms, recurring patterns, and contextual contingencies. Results: The review shows three consistent patterns. First, leadership is linked to retention predominantly through organizational commitment, especially affective and normative commitment, rather than through direct effects. Second, institutional and organizational conditions—particularly red tape and working conditions—shape the strength of leadership–commitment relationships. Third, workforce heterogeneity, including generational differences, affects how leadership practices and organizational environments are interpreted, although these dynamics are rarely theorized explicitly in the literature. Conclusions: The article develops a governance-sensitive integrative framework in which people-centered leadership influences turnover intentions indirectly through organizational commitment, while red tape and working conditions operate as contextual moderators. By embedding leadership within Public Administration and governance theory, the review clarifies the literature’s main explanatory gap and provides a foundation for comparative empirical testing and for more sustainable workforce strategies in public healthcare systems. Full article

Conventional approaches to motivating individuals within firms emphasize external incentives, sometimes referred to as the “carrot and stick” paradigm. However, such elements are often absent in volunteer environments, where incentive is derived from psychological and relational influences. In the work context, volunteers are an exceptional case as they lack traditional extrinsic incentives, making them suitable for researching motivation outside this paradigm. This study, based on Self-Determination Theory, explores the impact of communication methods on motivation, satisfaction, and retention of volunteers. The study employs a qualitative design to analyze data from 91 volunteers and 6 coordinators in nonprofit organizations, using content analysis conducted with ATLAS.ti version 26. The findings demonstrate that communication functions as a crucial motivator by promoting autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Volunteers are intrinsically driven by their engagement, the opportunity to make a significant contribution, and experiential learning. Conversely, coordinators influence these experiences by providing feedback, advice, and chances for engagement. The findings indicate a struggle between autonomy and control, illustrating variations in motivation within organizational contexts. The study contributes to existing knowledge by demonstrating that communication serves as a primary motivator and engagement catalyst in the absence of external rewards. This holds significant ramifications for nonprofit administration and motivational philosophy. Full article

Person–Environment Fit Theory explains organizational match in beliefs and values influences employee satisfaction and motivation in the workplace. Automated systems [e.g., artificial intelligence (AI)] and advanced technology have been integrated into business operations to compete in the digital era. However, how employee technology orientation and individual differences influence workplace preferences is underexplored. This study advances how organizations can strategically attract talent aligned with their technological infrastructure and work design. Parallel mediation path analysis was conducted on a surveyed U.S. convenience sample (SPSS PROCESS Model 4; N = 912). Technology adaptability was positively associated with preference for a job role highlighting working with automated systems relative to emphasizing supportive coworkers. Technology adaptability related to a greater need to belong and job satisfaction (as parallel mediators) and thereby less preference for a role working with automated systems (i.e., preference for a supportive coworkers job ad). The findings reveal that job ads promoting automated systems do not unilaterally attract tech-adaptive employees. Belonging needs and job satisfaction can function as psychological factors that redirect tech-savvy workers towards socially enriched roles. Proactively advertising social belonging and job satisfaction cues alongside advanced technology use could more comprehensively appeal to tech-adaptive job seekers. This can signal a better value congruence between an organization and these job seekers. Full article

Healthcare professionals must acquire and maintain both declarative knowledge and fine psychomotor skills across a wide range of clinical procedures. Human working memory is physiologically limited, and the high cognitive demands of clinical environments frequently contribute to medical errors and adverse events. Intra-individual performance variability—driven by fatigue, stress, and motivation—represents a further challenge that conventional medical safety education has not adequately addressed. According to the World Health Organization, patient harm ranks fourteenth in the global burden of disease, with approximately 10% of hospitalised patients in high-income countries experiencing harm within healthcare facilities. This study reports the design, theoretical rationale, and preliminary outcomes of an augmented reality (AR) glasses system for hands-free, self-directed medical procedural training, developed from a human factors and ergonomics (HFE) perspective. The system integrates a see-through head-mounted display (HMD; Epson Moverio BT-40S), bone-conduction earphones (Shokz OpenComm), and an industrial-grade voice recognition application (NEC Solution Innovators), achieving fully hands-free operation compatible with aseptic technique. Content design is grounded in cognitive load theory (CLT) and the cognitive theory of multimedia learning (CTML), extended by neuroscientific evidence on multisensory integration and memory consolidation. More than 40 procedure-specific modules have been developed in-house at Tokyo University of Technology, spanning airway management, vascular access, respiratory therapy, dialysis, and cardiac support. In a four-year longitudinal survey (virtual reality (VR) simulator; n = 286), major satisfaction items consistently exceeded the scale midpoint. In an AR endotracheal suctioning cohort (n = 38/22), procedural flow understanding was rated 3.95/5.0. A peer-reviewed randomised controlled trial (Clinical Simulation in Nursing, n = 36) demonstrated significantly superior skill improvement (p < 0.001) and learning motivation (p = 0.001) in the AR group versus textbook self-practice. Principal ergonomic limitations of current HMD hardware—excessive weight, narrow field of view, and absence of medical-grade certification—are documented, and AI-based real-time procedural assessment is identified as a priority for the next research phase. Full article

Naturally ventilated office spaces present a dual challenge: open windows are sources of thermal comfort and acoustic disturbances. Despite growing interest in adaptive comfort frameworks, the acoustic adaptation effects specific to naturally ventilated indoor environments and the role of biophilic design elements in mediating them remain insufficiently investigated. This study was conducted to examine the influence of audio–biophilic elements in a naturally ventilated space with a green view, with 53 participants recruited from a real, operational open-office space. Under typical open window field noise conditions, four levels of birdsong (45, 49, 52, and 55 dBA) were introduced at the receiver position. The participants’ perceptual responses were measured using the ISO/TS 12913:2019 and ISO/TS 12913:2025, as well as indoor-soundscape scales. Satisfaction, the perceived appropriateness of the conditions for work, and preferences were evaluated. Environmental descriptors, including psychoacoustic and thermal parameters and perceived auditory and visual content, were also recorded. Statistical analyses were conducted using RM-ANOVA, the Friedman test, and post hoc comparisons. The results revealed that audio–biophilic interventions can enhance adaptive acoustic comfort in naturally ventilated spaces. Although the existing ISO and indoor soundscape scales are highly correlated, they are not interchangeable. These findings offer actionable guidance for acoustic designers and facility managers: introducing contextually appropriate birdsong at moderate levels (not exceeding a background noise level of more than 3 dBA) can serve as an effective masking strategy in naturally ventilated open-plan offices without increasing perceived disturbance, supporting the integration of audio–biophilic systems in green building design. This study contributes field-based evidence to the literature on audio–biophilic interventions and their role in adaptive acoustic comfort in naturally ventilated spaces. Full article

Accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations have shifted to remote work to transform traditional office conditions and take advantage of the new arrangements. Studies confirm working remotely sustains and boosts performance and satisfaction compared to conventional office states. However, work stress remains a constant concern negatively impacting well-being, engagement, and productivity across both settings. Less explored is how workplace authenticity, shaped by authentic living, accepting external influence, and self-alienation, impacts work stress and performance. We address this research gap by studying how these authenticity dimensions predict work stress across both working-from-home and office work environments and its effect on performance. We used extensive survey data to test the hypothesis implied by these relationships. The findings indicate that work stress is negatively associated with work in both settings. Additionally, accepting external influence and self-alienation may seem to increase work stress, while authentic living reduces it across both contexts. The results of this study provide a cross-context validation rather than strong differentiation between working from home and in office. Organizations should promote authentic living and target self-alienation to attenuate work stress. This is the first study to provide empirical evidence that these dynamics hold in both remote and office work contexts. Full article

Introduction: The work-related quality of life affects employee satisfaction and organizational effectiveness, with a direct impact on the quality of healthcare. This study aims to investigate the work-related quality of life (WRQoL) among nurses in tertiary healthcare, as perceived by the nurses themselves, in relation to their demographic and professional characteristics. At the same time, it seeks to highlight the way in which the individual dimensions of WRQoL influence their sexual and mental health. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in 2023 in a General Hospital in Greece. Data were collected using structured questionnaires assessing sociodemo-graphic and occupational characteristics, WRQoL, mental health (Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale—DASS-21), and female sexual function (Female Sexual Function Index—FSFI-19). Pearson correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis were performed. The regression model was adjusted for age, marital status, number of children, and work experience. Results: The results demonstrated a significant negative association between depression and sexual function (β = −0.388, p = 0.029), while stress was positively associated with sexual function (β = 0.371, p = 0.038). The overall regression model was statistically significant (p = 0.001), explaining 18.6% of the variance in sexual function. Conclusions: The findings highlight the close interrelationship between work-related quality of life, mental health, and sexual function among nurses. Poorer psychological well-being was associated with reduced sexual function, emphasizing the impact of occupational and emotional burden on nurses’ overall health. These results underline the importance of supportive workplace environments and targeted interventions to promote mental and sexual well-being among healthcare professionals. Full article

The transition from Industry 4.0 to Industry 5.0 represents a shift toward human-centric work systems that prioritize employee well-being and meaningful human–technology collaboration. Research examining employee well-being, job satisfaction, and organizational performance in Industry 5.0 contexts remains conceptually fragmented and methodologically heterogeneous, limiting cumulative theoretical development. This study addresses how fragmented insights on employee well-being, job satisfaction, and organizational performance can be conceptually integrated through a human-centric operational excellence perspective. Accordingly, an integrative review was conducted using PRISMA 2020-guided screening and reporting procedures, resulting in a final sample of 84 peer-reviewed studies published between 2015 and 2025. The literature was analyzed through inductive thematic synthesis to identify recurring patterns, tensions, and conceptual configurations within digitally mediated work environments. The findings indicate that employee well-being and job satisfaction Industry 5.0 contexts are multidimensional, dynamic, and frequently paradoxical: digital technologies simultaneously function as enablers of autonomy, meaningful work, and cognitive support while also generating technostress, algorithmic control, and cognitive overload. Relationships between well-being, satisfaction, and performance appear non-linear and context-dependent, with high performance sometimes coexisting with employee strain. In this sense, this study contributes to the Industry 5.0 literature by advancing human-centric operational excellence (HCOE) as an interpretive lens for reconciling human–technology tensions without presuming linear causal relationships. Full article