Abstract:
Nigeria, like many other countries, has been experiencing outbreak of communicable diseases
which necessitates healthcare workers’ effort propensity. Studies conducted among healthcare
workers have shown that effort propensity during disease outbreak can be influenced by
perception of risk and the safety involved. Previous studies focused on healthcare workers’
demographic characteristics, fear and concerns for self and loved ones as predictors of effort
propensity during communicable disease outbreaks, with little attention paid to contextual and
dispositional factors. This study was, therefore, designed to investigate the influence of
contextual (perceived organisational support and pay satisfaction) and dispositional factors
(risk perception, self-efficacy and perceived vulnerability to disease) and the mediating role of
resilience on effort propensity during communicable disease outbreaks among healthcare
workers in Ondo State.
Vroom’s Expectancy Theory and Knoke’s Motivational Model were employed as the
framework, while a cross-sectional survey design was utilised. The participants were 477
healthcare workers (289 nurses, 102 doctors, 44 laboratory technologists and 42 pharmacists)
purposively sampled based on their prominent contacts with patients and willingness to
participate. They were drawn from specialist hospitals in each senatorial district of Ondo State:
Akure, Ikare and Okitipupa. A questionnaire that measured perceived organisational support
(POS, α = 0.93), pay satisfaction (PS, α = 0.94), risk perception (RP, α = 0.76), self-efficacy
(α = 0.88), perceived vulnerability to disease (PVD, α = 0.90), effort propensity (EP, α = 0.71)
and resilience (α = 0.82) was administered on the selected healthcare workers. Data were
analysed using Hierarchical Multiple Regression and Linear Regression at p ≤ 0.05.
The respondents’ age was 31±10.4 years. Age (r = .19), employment duration (r = .24) and PS
(r = .31) had significant positive relationship with EP. Risk perception (r = -.58), self-efficacy
(r = -.65) and PVD (r = -.59) had significant negative relationship with EP. Age and
employment duration (F(2,474) = 14.46; ∆R2 = .06), contextual (F(2,472) = 24.22; ∆R2 = .11) and
dispositional factors (F(3,469) = 94.63; ∆R2 = .42) jointly predicted EP, accounting for 59% of its
variance. Pay satisfaction (β = .17), RP (β = -.18), self-efficacy (β = -.37) and PVD (β = -.29)
significantly predicted EP. Age and employment duration (F(2,474) = 14.89; ∆R2 = .06),
contextual (F(2,472) = 13.42, ∆R2 = .04) and dispositional factors (F(3,469) = 49.28, ΔR2 = .32)
jointly predicted resilience, accounting for 42% of its variance. Age (β = -.19), RP (β = .20),
self-efficacy (β = .32) and PVD (β = .22) significantly predicted resilience. Resilience
completely mediated the influence of POS (B = -.10, CI = -.1610; -.0403) and partially
mediated the influence of RP (B = -.21, CI = -.3194; -.0983), self-efficacy (B = -.07, CI = -
.1519; -.0055) and PVD (B = -.08, CI = -.1209; -.0472) on EP.
Perceived organisational support, risk perception, self-efficacy and perceived vulnerability to
disease negatively influenced effort propensity of healthcare workers in Ondo State. To reduce
effort propensity, healthcare administrators should focus on disposition to work and ensure
positive organisational support.
