ABSTRACT:
Doctors and paraprofessionals operate in stressful environments that jeopardize their well-being and quality of care. E-healthcare systems have been promoted by government initiatives (e.g., HITECH act) to support healthcare services. Recent evidence suggests, however, that these systems contribute to job strain. Drawing on findings from a qualitative study and proximity and homophily theories, we integrate the healthcare context to develop and test a research model of friendship network ties among and between doctors and paraprofessionals as a coping mechanism for alleviating job strain. We test our model in a year-long field study in a hospital that implemented a new e-healthcare system, with two waves of data collected from 152 doctors and 731 paraprofessionals. Our findings move beyond the classical view of friendship as a conduit of coping by suggesting that the source of friendship network ties could reduce or aggravate strain as doctors and paraprofessionals continue to interact with the system over time.
Key words and phrases: Job strain, job coping, e-healthcare use, friendship ties, homophily theory, proximity theory