We Are All in This Together, or Are We? Job Strain and Coping in the Context of an E-Healthcare System Implementation

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.