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. 2017 Oct 5;12(10):e0185905.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0185905. eCollection 2017.

Relationships between followers' behaviors and job satisfaction in a sample of nurses

Paola Gatti  1 , Chiara Ghislieri  1 , Claudio G Cortese  1
Affiliations

Relationships between followers' behaviors and job satisfaction in a sample of nurses

Paola Gatti et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

The study investigated two followership behaviors, followers' active engagement and followers' independent critical thinking, and their relationship with job satisfaction in a sample of nurses. In addition, the study also considered a number of control variables and classical job demands and job resources-workload and emotional dissonance for job demands, and meaningful work for job resources-which have an impact on well-being at work. A paper-and-pencil questionnaire was administered to 425 nurses in an Italian hospital, and a hierarchical multiple regression was used to test the hypotheses. In addition to the job demands and job resources considered, followers' active engagement had a significant impact on job satisfaction. Moreover, it showed a significant linear and curvilinear relationship with the outcome variable. Followers' independent critical thinking has a non significant relationship with job satisfaction, confirming the mixed results obtained in the past for this dimension. These findings bore out the importance of analyzing followers' behaviors as potential resources that people can use on the job to increase their own well-being. Looking at followers not just as passive recipients but as active and proactive employees can also benefit the organization.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. The study model.
Note. The figure shows the model tested in the study with all the hypotheses and expected relationships between each demand/resource and the outcome of JS. WL = workload; ED = emotional dissonance; F.AE = follower’s active engagement; F.ICT = follower’s independent critical thinking; MW = meaningful work; JS = job satisfaction. The variable short name is followed by a description of how it was measured. Further details are given in the Measures section.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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