Predicting healthcare employees' participation in an office redesign program: attitudes, norms and behavioral control

The study examined the extent to which components based on a modified version of the theory of planned behavior explained employee participation in a new clinical office program designed to reduce patient waiting times in primary care clinics.

We regressed extent of employee participation on attitudes about the program, group norms, and perceived behavioral control along with individual and clinic characteristics using a hierarchical linear mixed model.

Perceived group norms were one of the best predictors of employee participation. Attitudes about the program were also significant, but to a lesser degree. Behavioral control, however, was not a significant predictor. Respondents with at least one year of clinic tenure, or who were team leaders, first line supervisor, or managers had greater participation rates. Analysis at the clinic level indicated clinics with scores in the highest quartile clinic scores on group norms, attitudes, and behavioral control scores were significantly higher on levels of overall participation than clinics in the lowest quartile.

Findings suggest that establishing strong norms and values may influence employee participation in a change program in a group setting. Supervisory level was also significant with greater responsibility being associated with greater participation.