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The association between decision‐making skills and subjective decision outcomes among administrative officers in the Swedish Social Insurance Agency
Author(s) -
Geisler Martin,
Allwood Carl Martin,
Salo Ilkka
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
health and social care in the community
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.984
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1365-2524
pISSN - 0966-0410
DOI - 10.1111/hsc.13207
Subject(s) - agency (philosophy) , association (psychology) , actuarial science , social insurance , business , psychology , political science , sociology , psychotherapist , social science , law
Social insurance administrative officers’ decision‐making skills influence their efficiency at work and their general well‐being. At work their tasks are characterised by complexity and a need for order and accountability. Moreover, cases should usually be handled and finalised within the imposed time frames. We investigated skills related to decision‐making success among social insurance officers. In total, 118 administrative officers at the Swedish Social Insurance Agency (66% response rate) responded to questions on scales and measures relating to cognitive‐rational, socio‐emotional and time approach features of decision‐making skill. In addition, they responded to questions on three scales pertaining to outcomes of everyday decisions in terms of subjective everyday difficulties, tendencies to burnout and depressive symptoms. The results showed that cognitive‐rational competence was associated with lower reports of subjective everyday difficulties and depressive symptoms and thereby contributed to the explained variance in decision outcomes. Furthermore, socio‐emotional and time approach features of decision‐making skills contributed to the explanation for subjective everyday difficulties, tendencies to burnout and depressive symptoms. The results corroborate the basic assumption and usefulness of a broad approach in the definition and assessment of decision‐making skills in human service professions in general, and of administrative officers in social insurance agencies in particular. Recommendations for future research and the implications of the results are discussed.

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