Table 1 Mediators of perceived differences in workplace variables across institutions [8]

Organisational size

Organisational size is a pivotal variable in classic organisational theory and considered a key mediator of differences in organisational structures, WCS and behaviour. According to the Formal Theory of Differentiation in Organisations and the Evolutionary Model of Organisation, size leads to the distinct characteristics of work, for example, by promoting functional specialisation, divided responsibility, wider control spans, standardisation, formalisation and less centralisation [9,10,11]. More recent economic theories have described the effects of organisational size on WCS, particularly the positive effect on compensation, training, promotion opportunities, job security and the negative effect on participation, meaningful work, worker’s confidence, autonomy and job satisfaction [12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21]

e.g. Formal Theory of Differentiation in Organisations [9]; Evolutionary Model of Organisation [10]; High-performance work systems [13]

Activity type

Activity type refers to the type of treatment, patients and locations a healthcare provider is associated with, which, according to the self-determination theory and the job characteristics theory, can impact work motivation, exhaustion and overall job satisfaction by offering various levels of personal-identity-fit, perceived impact on others, meaning and interestingness, as well as autonomy and feedback [22,23,24]. Moreover, with regard to the effect of patient types, social interaction theories suggest that the quality of nurse–patient relationships affects nurses’ well-being and work strain by positive and negative regulation of emotions [25, 26]. Finally, context variables indirectly impact WCS by being linked to activity type. For example, in Switzerland, different billing systems for various treatments affect nurses’ WCS by promoting cost-savings [27, 28]

e.g. Self-determination theory [22, 25]; Economisation at hospitals [27, 28]; Job characteristics theory [23],

Ownership and goal system

Ownership and goal systems refer to institutions being in either private or public ownership and following for-profit or non-profit objectives. As for-profit, non-profit and public organisations typically act consistent with different macroeconomic roles [29], they promote different workplace characteristics and therefore offer different intrinsic and extrinsic stimuli for workers’ motivation. From the self-determination theory perspective, promoting autonomy, relatedness and competence increases workers’ intrinsic motivation [22] and job satisfaction [30, 31]. NPOs offer more autonomy because of the relative absence of competitive or legislative/regulatory pressure, compared with for-profit or public organisations, while both public organisations and NPOs can offer more relatedness at work than their for-profit counterparts because of public service motivation [32, 33]

e.g. Three-Sector Economy [27], Public Service Motivation [33], Self-determination theory [22]