Line managers’ influence on employee usage of a web-based system for occupational health management
International Journal of Workplace Health Management
ISSN: 1753-8351
Article publication date: 28 September 2018
Issue publication date: 28 September 2018
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate line managers’ influence on employee usage of a web-based system for occupational health management.
Design/methodology/approach
Questionnaires were used to measure line managers’ transformational leadership at baseline and their change-supportive managerial activities during weeks 16–52. Employee initial (weeks 16–52) and sustained (weeks 53–144) use of the web-based system was measured by extracting their frequency of logins to the system from electronic records. Data were collected from six white-collar organizations from 2011 through 2013. Mixed Poisson regressions were used to analyze the influence of transformational leadership and change-supportive managerial activities on employee usage.
Findings
As predicted, line managers’ change-supportive activities influenced the employees’ initial and sustained use of the system. Line managers’ transformational leadership had no direct effect on employees’ use of the system, however transformational leadership was indirectly associated with employees’ initial and sustained use of the system through line managers’ change-supportive activities.
Originality/value
The study adds to the understanding of the role line managers’ play during the implementation of occupational health interventions. The findings suggest that the line managers’ change-supportive activities directed toward the intervention are important for employees’ initial and sustained use of the system. The influence of transformational leadership was indirect, suggesting that line managers may need to direct their leadership behaviors toward the intervention to facilitate implementation.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The web-based intervention used in the study is the result of almost two decades of research and it has been commercially available for more than a decade. Dr Dan Hasson, the co-founder and CEO of Interactive Health Group (the company that provides the intervention) has been the main supervisor of the co-author KV (PhD Student during the work on this manuscript), and is married to the co-author HH. Neither HH nor KV conducted the statistical analyses for this manuscript. KV has on occasion contributed with consultancy tasks regarding the web-based intervention. The authors wish to thank the organizations and employees who participated in the study. The authors would also like to thank Dr Dan Hasson for enabling the use of the data in the study, Dr Zangin Zeebari for help with the statistical analysis and the systems architect Jens Pettersson for immense efforts in the study. This work was supported by the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (FORTE) (Grant 2012-0215) and AFA Insurance (Grant 130058). The Swedish ESF Council funded the intervention (Grant 2010-3010011).
Citation
Frykman, M., Lundmark, R., von Thiele Schwarz, U., Villaume, K. and Hasson, H. (2018), "Line managers’ influence on employee usage of a web-based system for occupational health management", International Journal of Workplace Health Management, Vol. 11 No. 4, pp. 193-209. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJWHM-12-2017-0104
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited