title: Nursing work stress: the impacts of social network structure and organizational citizenship behavior.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The nursing workplace imposes significantly more stress on its employees than other workplace settings. Organizational resources, both physical and psychological, have been recognized in prior studies as important alleviators of nursing workplace stress. Whereas physical resources are less difficult to manipulate because of their tangibility, psychological resources, particularly psychological support from colleagues, are typically not deployed to greatest effect.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This article investigated the alleviation of nursing work stress using resources already extant in coworker social networks.
  
  
  METHODS
  Researchers conducted a survey in a dialysis department at a medical center located in Taipei City, Taiwan. This survey measured nurse work stress, satisfaction, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and social network structures. Researchers employed UCINET to analyze the network structure data, which were in dyadic matrix format to estimate nurse network centralities and used partial least squares analysis to estimate research construct path coefficients and test extrapolated hypotheses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The level of OCB induced by nurse social ties was satisfactory and did not only directly increased work satisfaction but also alleviated work stress, which indirectly boosted work satisfaction.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings suggest that managers may be able to use social network analysis to identify persons appropriate to conduct the distribution of organizational resources. Choosing those with multiple social connections can help distribute resources effectively and induce higher OCB levels within the organization. In addition, staff with strong friendship network connections may provide appropriate psychological resources (support) to coworkers. If those with high friendship network centrality receive proper counseling training, they should be in a good position to provide assistance when needed.
authors.affiliation: National Taiwan University of Science and Technology.
authors.forename: Seng-Su
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Tsang
authors.forename: Tzu-Yin
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Shih-Fong
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Hsin-Ling
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Tai
mesh_terms: D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D015279:Organizational Culture; D012944:Social Support; D012963:Sociometric Techniques; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D013624:Taiwan