Study Of The Impact Of Social Network Of Rural Basic Public Health Service Workers On Job Performance

[Purpose]The aim of this study is to build a conceptual model of the impact of social network of rural basic public health service workers on job performance,clarify the social network characteristics of rural basic public health service workers,discusses the influence of social network characteristics on job performance from the individual level and group level,and propose the development strategies of rural basic public health service workers based on social network analysis.[Methods](1)Literature research method.This study has collected the literature on social network analysis and job performance,and used the bibliometric method to understand the application of social network analysis in the health research field of China,and comprehend the development and research hotspots of cross research of social network and performance in the world for providing a theoretical foundation.(2)Field investigation method.This study has used convenience-sampling method to select 21 townships in 6 counties from Henan and Hubei.A questionnaire survey was conducted among all health workers involved in basic public health services.(3)Social network analysis method.UCINET software was used to draw social network pictures,and calculate the social network variables.The relevance of different types of social networks was analyzed by the QAP method.Small group analysis was used to identify the structure of social network.(4)Case analysis method.The social network characteristics of rural basic public health service workers in one sample township was analyzed.On the basis of visual analysis of network structure,empirical results were supplemented by case analysis results.(5)Data processing and analyzing method.The results of job performance on the individual level were integrated into group level.The data was standardized before testing the effect of moderate effect.Independent sample T test,ANOVA were applied to explore the differences in social demographic variable of job performance and social network characteristics.Hierarchical regression was used to verify the effects of social network characteristics on job performance.[Results](1)Conceptual model of the impact of social network of rural basic public health service workers on job performance was built.Under the influence of rural basic public health service characteristics of policy,supply,content and environment,the social network of rural basic public health service workers was made up of clinicians,nurses,public health workers and village doctors,including advice and friendship relationships.The job performance of health workers included three dimensions: task performance,interpersonal facilitation and job dedication.Social network characteristics and attribute characteristics jointly exerted an influence on job performance.(2)At the individual level,the degree centrality in the advice network was generally higher,but the betweenness centrality was lower than that in friendship network.Public health workers had the highest degree and betweenness centrality in the advice network and friendship network.Moreover,differences in network characteristics at the individual level were also reflected in gender,working years,and education.At the group level,the density and centralization in the advice network were both higher than those in friendship network,and the advice relationship of health workers was more intense.There was a correlation between the structure of the advice and friendship network.Small group phenomena were more likely to occur among health workers in the same occupational category.(3)At the individual level,the degree centrality of advice network had a positive effect on individual overall job performance(?=0.013,p<0.001),and on all of dimensions of individual job performance,but the betweenness centrality had a negative effect on individual overall job performance(?=-0.014,p<0.1),and on task performance and interpersonal facilitation.The degree centrality of friend network had a negative effect on individual overall job performance(?=-0.008,p<0.05),and on task performance and job dedication.The degree heterogeneity of advice network reversely moderated the effect of the degree centrality on individual overall job performance(?=-0.007,p<0.05),and on three dimensions of individual job performance,and also reversely moderated the effect of the betweenness centrality on the interpersonal facilitation.(4)At the group level,the density of the advice network had a positive effect on group overall job performance(?=4.277,p < 0.01),and on each dimension of group job performance.The centrality of the advice network had a positive effect on the group task performance(?=1.848,p<0.1).The density of the friendship network had a positive effect on group overall job performance(?=2.964,p<0.1),and on the group interpersonal facilitation(?=2.999,p<0.01).[Conclusions and Suggestions]Conclusions: Characteristics of rural basic public health services determine the uniqueness of the social network formed by rural basic public health service workers.The job performance of health workers is not only influenced by their own attribute characteristics,but also influenced by the social network characteristics.The overall structural characteristics of the network also have an impact on the group job performance.Suggestions: Promoting the application of social network analysis in the health human resources research of China.Establishing the new mechanism for the use of public health workers in township hospitals.Creating a favorable communication atmosphere for rural basic public health services workers.Strengthening the management of key health workers based on social network analysis.Applying social network analysis into the building of family doctor service team.[Innovation and Deficiency]Innovation: The social network analysis was applied into the study of rural basic public health service workers.Based on the attribute characteristics,the importance of social network characteristics was emphasized,which could enriches health human resources research system of China.The impact of social networks on job performance was analyzed from the individual and group level,and the moderate variable of degree heterogeneity was introduced,the effect of network characteristics on job performance was more roundly demonstrated.Deficiency: Suitable mediator variables were not taken into account,and the mechanism of individual network characteristics' impact on job performance still needed to be further explored.More variables cannot be introduced for regression analysis due to the insufficient sample size at group level.The impact of the overall characteristics of social networks on the performance of group work needed to be further studied after increasing the sample size.The quality of some questionnaires was not high enough,and the social network investigation method still needed further improvement.