Social capital – how to succeed 4th International COPSOQ Workshop Gent, September 19-20, 2013 Tage S Kristensen tsk@task-consult.dk The development of work environment factors Noise, smoke, chemicals Monotonous, repetitive work Relations Work in teams Networks, trust Workplace social capital Exposures Organization of work Organizational social capital ”The three diamonds” Collaboration The core product or service Justice Trust Important point about workplace social capital • Some work environment factors are at job-level. (For instance demands, influence, meaning, variation, etc.) • Others are at department level. (For instance quality of leadership, predictability, recognition, social support, etc.) • Social capital is primarily at company level, e.g. a characteristic of the whole company. (The distinction between department and company cannot be made beforehand) How we usually measure social capital Justice Trust (vertical) • Are conflicts resolved in a fair way? * • Is the work distributed fairly? * • Are employees appreciated when they have done a good job? • Are all suggestions from employees treated seriously by the management? • Does the management trust the employees to do their work well? * • Can you trust the information that comes from the management? * • Does the management withhold important information from the employees? • Are the employees able to express their views and feelings? * Short questionnaire Important findings • Workplaces with the same conditions have very different social capital Social capital and quality of leadership in the schools of a Danish municipality Quality of leadership A C D 70 E F 60 B G H DK I 50 J 40 L K 50 Social capital 60 70 80 Important findings • Workplaces with the same conditions have very different social capital • Social capital is always strongly associated with job satisfaction, stress, etc. Social capital and intention to quit Intention to quit Units are municipal institutions in the city of Odense, Denmark 60 A 50 G H F 40 B E 30 D C 20 Social capital 50 Social capital project, 2009. 60 70 80 Social capital and the prevalence of cardiovascular disease among nurses in Chinese hospitals 2,854 nurses in 12 hospitals Jian Li & TS Kristensen, 2011. Important findings • Workplaces with the same conditions have very different social capital • Social capital is always strongly associated with job satisfaction, stress, etc. • Social capital ”overrules” the influence of job factors Social capital and job satisfaction in schools of the same municipality Job satisfaction 70 60 50 40 Social capital 50 r = 0,881; p = 0,000 60 DK 70 80 Social capital and quantitative demands at work in the schools of a Danish municipality Quantitative demands 60 F K 50 J 40 L E H G I A D DK B C 30 Social capital 50 60 70 80 Social capital og job satisfaction in call centres Mathiesen & Wiegman, 2009 (In)Justice and depression* A Finnish prospective study of 1,786 female hospital employees Relative risk 1,73 1.5 1.0 1,24 1,0 1,0 0.5 + * Diagnosed by MD – Respect Kivimäki et al. Psychol Med 2003;33:319-326. + – Procedural justice Important findings • Workplaces with the same conditions have very different social capital • Social capital is always strongly associated with job satisfaction, stress, etc. • Social capital ”overrules” the influence of job factors • Social capital is mainly the result of quality of leadership Development of social capital and quality of leadership during a one-year intervention project Social capital and quality of leadership in hospital wards Quality of leadership OBS 75 The Region 70 65 The hospital 60 55 Social capital 50 60 70 80 The economic development of Irma supermarkets 1996-2010 Profit before tax (mio. DKK.) 74 60 40 70 54 Josefsen starts 50 75 Recent numbers: 2009: 50.6 mio 2010: 78.5 mio 44 26.5 30 29.7 32.7 20 6.9 10 0.9 0 -10 År -5.9 -20 -30 -29.0 -40 1996 97 98 -34.8 99 2000 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 Irma was in deep crisis and about to close down. Josefsen built up the social capital of Irma, and the economic results followed 08 Conclusions • Social capital is a characteristic of the workplace, which reflects leadership and cooperation • Workplaces with high social capital have high job satisfaction, low stress, and low absence rates • Social capital is not the result of economic or material conditions – it can be improved though local actions Thank you for your attention COPSOQ on the Internet