Associations between psychological ownership and the service impact among Chinese disability support workers

Ambiguous perceptions of job roles by service providers may lead to poor service quality. This study sought to examine the relationship between role ambiguity and service impact among disability support workers, and further, to compare the mediating effects of job-based and collective psychological ownership in the role ambiguity-service impact link. Data were derived from a longitudinal survey conducted in 56 cities in mainland China in 2019. 1153 social workers working in disability and rehabilitation services sectors completed the questionnaire. Structural equation modeling analyses and bootstrapping were applied to test the proposed model. The results revealed that role ambiguity is a risk factor for disability support workers' service impact. Furthermore, psychological ownership serves mediating roles in the relationship between role ambiguity and service impact among disability support workers. Even more, job-based psychological ownership plays a more critical buffering role than collective psychological ownership does among Chinese disability support workers experiencing role ambiguity. The main findings imply that human service organizations in China face the dilemma of insufficient organizational capacity, with employees tending to resolve problems by relying more on their own resources than organizational resources. Therefore, policymakers and human service organizations should develop the organizational capacity of human service organizations to help employees overcome role ambiguity.