Skip to main content
Disciplines
Automotive Business IT + Informatics Construction + Real Estate Electrical Engineering + Electronics Energy + Sustainability Insurance + Risk Finance + Banking Management + Leadership Marketing + Sales Mechanical Engineering + Materials
Events
DE
EN
Books
Journals
Topic Page
Marketing
Start single access now
Access for companies
EXTENDED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Asia Pacific Journal of Management
Published in: Asia Pacific Journal of Management 3/2020

06-06-2019

Evaluating the performance of employee assistance programs (EAP): a checklist developed from a large sample of public agencies

Authors: Yen-chen Hsu, Ching-wen Wang, Jun-bang Lan

Published in: Asia Pacific Journal of Management | Issue 3/2020

Log in

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config
loading …

Abstract

Employee Assistance Program (EAP), which is designed to facilitate employee well-being by managing their personal work-related issues, plays an important role in human resource management. Yet, the development of EAP has encountered difficulties in the recent decades and one of the key reasons is the lack of a valid instrument to assess its effectiveness. The aim of this study is to develop a valid and reliable instrument for organizations to evaluate their EAP performance. Drawing on the IPOO (input-process-output-outcome) performance evaluation model, we generate the scale dimensions and items through a multi-method data collection approach, including literature review, panel discussion and a series of qualitative interviews with program practitioners. Then, by surveying EAP practitioners from 135 government units in Taiwan, we confirmed the reliability, content and predictive validity of the instrument which consists of 27 items. There are five dimensions in the instrument, namely resource allocation, management support, plan making, program introduction, and service provision. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed at the end.
previous article Risk-taking in entrepreneurial decision-making: A dynamic model of venture decision

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 102.000 Bücher
  • über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Automobil + Motoren
  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
  • Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
  • Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

  • über 67.000 Bücher
  • über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

  • Bauwesen + Immobilien
  • Business IT + Informatik
  • Finance + Banking
  • Management + Führung
  • Marketing + Vertrieb
  • Versicherung + Risiko




Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now
Literature
Aguinis, H. 2013. Performance management, 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ:Pearson Prentice Hall.
Benavides, A. D., & David, H. 2010. Local Government Wellness Programs: A Viable Option to Decrease Healthcare Costs and Improve Productivity. Public Personnel Management, 39(4): 291–306.
Bhagat, R. S., Steverson, P. K., & Segovis, J. C. 2007. International and cultural variations in employee assistance programmes: Implications for managerial health and effectiveness. Journal of Management Studies, 44(2): 222–242.
Carter, N., Klein, R., & Day, P. 1992. How Organizations Measure Success: The Use of Performance Indicators in Government. London:Routledge.
Cartwright, S., & Cooper, C. L. 1996. Public policy and occupational health psychology in Europe. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 1(4): 349–361.
Cheng, H. K., & Liao, Z. 2009. Performance Indicators for Outsourcing Public Vocational Training Programs: A case of BEVT [in Chinese]. Journal of Public Administration, 30: 33–62.
Conway, J. M., & Huffcutt, A. I. 2003. A review and evaluation of exploratory factor analysis practices in organizational research. Organizational Research Methods, 6(2): 147–168.
Cooper, C. L., Dewe, P., & O’Driscoll, M. 2003. Employee assistance programs. In J. C. Quick, & L. Tetrick (Eds.). Occupational Health Psychology: 289–304. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Csiernik, R. 1995a. Wellness, work and employee assistance programming. Employee Assistance Quarterly, 11(2): 1–13.
Csiernik, R. 1995b. A review of research methods used to examine employee assistance program delivery options. Evaluation and Program Planning, 18(1): 25–36.
Csiernik, R., Chaulk, P., & McQuaid, S. 2012. A Process Evaluation of a Canadian Public Sector Employee Assistance Program. Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health, 27(3): 160–180.
Dickman, F. 1985. Employee assistance programs: History and philosophy. In F. J. Dickman, W. G. Emener Jr., & W. S. Hutchinson Jr. (Eds.). counseling the troubled person in industry: A guide to the organization, implementation, and evaluation of employee assistance programs: 7–12. Springfield: Charles C. Thomas.
Dupré, K. E., & Day, A. L. 2007. The effects of supportive management and job quality on the turnover intentions and health of military personnel. Human Resource Management, 46(2): 185–201.
Ferreira, M. A., Johnson, D., Pereira da Silva, C., & Ramos, T. 2018. Developing a performance evaluation mechanism for Portuguese Marine Spatial Planning using a participatory approach. Journal of Cleaner Production, 180: 913–923.
Hair, J. F., Anderson, R. E., Tatham, R. L., & Black, W. C. 1995. Multivariate Data Analysis with Readings, 4th ed. New Jersey:Prentice Hall Publishers.
Hargrave, G. E., Hiatt, D., Alexander, R., & Shaffer, I. A. 2008. EAP Treatment Impact on Presenteeism and Absenteeism: Implications for Return on Investment. Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health, 23(3): 283–293.
Hatry, H. 2006. Performance measurement: Getting results. Washington, D.C:Urban Institute Press.
Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada 2014. Evaluation of Employee Assistance Services 2009–2010 to 2013–2014. Canada:Office of Evaluation, Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Highley-Marchington, C., & Cooper, C. L. 1997. An evaluation of employee assistance and workplace counseling programmes in the UK. In M. Carroll, & M. Walton (Eds.). Handbook of counseling in organizations: 273–287. London: Sage.
Holosko, M. J., & Feit, M. D. 1988. EAP’s: Assessing how they work. Employee Assistance Quarterly, 3(3): 1–4.
Hsu, C. W., & Huang, H. C. 2011. Analysis of the Assessment Indicators of Science and Technology Projects [in Chinese]. Chinese Journal of Technology Management, 16(3): 29–51.
Ichikawa, K. (2000). ‘The development of EAPs in Japan’. EAPA Exchange, January–February, 38.
Iwasaki, R. (2000). ‘Adapting EAPs to Japanese culture: a case study’. EAPA Exchange, September–October, 31–2.
Jacobsen, D. I., & Fjeldbraaten, E. M. 2018. Shift work and sickness absence—The mediating roles of work–home conflict and perceived health. Human Resource Management, 57(5): 1145–1157.
Joseph, B., & Walker, A. 2017. Employee assistance programs in Australia: The perspectives of organisational leaders across sectors. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 55(2): 177–191.
Joseph, B., Walker, A., & Fuller-Tyszkiewicz, M. 2018. Evaluating the effectiveness of employee assistance programmes: A systematic review. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 27(1): 1–15.
Juang, W. J. 2008. Performance Measurement and Indicator Design: A Methodological Note [in Chinese]. Chinese Journal of Public Administration, 29: 61–91.
Kaiser, H. F. 1974. An index of factorial simplicity. Psychometrika, 39(1): 31–36.
Katz, D., & Kahn, R. L. 1978. The social psychology of organizations, 2nd ed. New York:Wiley.
Kim, D. S. 1988. Assessing Employment Assistance Programs: Evaluation typology and models. In M. J. Holosko, & M. D. Felt (Eds.). Evaluation of Employee Assistance Programs: 169–188. New York: Haworth Press.
Kinicki, A. J., Jacobson, K. J., Peterson, S. J., & Prussia, G. E. 2013. Development and validation of the performance management behavior questionnaire. Personnel Psychology, 66(1): 1–45.
Kirk, A. K., & Brown, D. F. 2003. Employee assistance programs: A review of the management of stress and wellbeing through workplace counseling and consulting. Australian Psychologist, 38(2): 138–143.
Lambardi, E. and Lardani, A. (2002). ‘The crisis in Argentina: EAPs in Argentina are adopting new tactics to help employees and workers survive financial and political problems of tragic proportions’. EAPA Exchange, September–October, 8–9.
Lee, C., & Gray, J. A. 1994. The role of employee assistance programmes. In C. L. Cooper, & S. Williams (Eds.). Creating healthy work organizations: 215–242. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.
Lennox, R., Sharar, D., Schmitz, E., & Goehner, D. 2010. Development and validation of the Chestnut Global Partners Workplace Outcome Suite. Journal of Wor006Bplace Behavioral Health, 25(2): 107–131.
Li, P. Z., Sharar, D., Lennox, R., & Zhuang, W. 2015. Evaluating EAP Counseling in the Chinese Workplace: A Study with a Breif Instrument. Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health, 30(1-2): 66–78.
Lin, C. H. 2015. Suggestions for EAP low Utilization in Public Sector [in Chinese]. Counseling and Guidance, 353: 21–26.
Lin, C. H. 2016. Introduction to Business [in Chinese]. Taipei:Hwa Tai Publishing.
Luthans, F., & Waldersee, R. 1989. What do we really know about EAPs? Human Resource Management, 28(3): 385–401.
Macdonald, S. 1986. Evaluating Employee Assistance Programs. In Toronto. Canada: Addiction Research Foundation.
Macdonald, S., Lothian, S., & Wells, S. 1997. Evaluation of an employee assistance program at a transportation company. Evaluation and Program Planning, 20(4): 495–505.
Masi, D. A. (2011). Redefining the EAP field. Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health, 26(1), 1-9.
Masi, D. A., & Jacobson, J. M. 2003. Outcome measurements of an integrated employee assistance and work-life program. Research on Social Work Practice, 13(4): 451–467.
Nadler, D. A., & Tushman, M. L. 1984. A congruence model for diagnosing organizational behavior. In D. A. Kolb, J. M. Rubin, & J. M. McIntyre (Eds.). Organizational psychology: Reading on human behavior in organizations: 587–603. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Neely, A., Gregory, M., & Platts, K. 1995. Performance Measurement System Design: A literature Review and Research Agenda. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 15(4): 80–116.
Nunes, A. P., Richmond, M. K., Pampel, F. C., & Wood, R. C. 2017. The Effect of Employee Assistance Services on Reductions in Employee Absenteeism. Journal of Business and Psychology, 1–11.
Osborne, J. W., & Costello, A. B. 2004. Sample size and subject to item ratio in principal components analysis. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 9(11): 1–9.
Pagani-Tousignant, C. (2000). ‘Managed care and EAPs in Latin America’. EAPA Exchange, May–June, 22.
Pensel, S. S. and Lambardi, E. (2001). ‘Challenges for employee assistance programs in Argentina’. EAPA Exchange, May–June, 37.
Perry, R. W., & Cayer, N. J. 1992. Evaluating employee assistance programme: Concerns and strategies for public employees. Public Personnel Management, 21: 55–80.
Richmond, M. K., Pampel, F. C., Wood, R. C., & Nunes, A. P. 2017. The impact of employee assistance services on workplace outcomes: Results of a prospective, quasi-experimental study. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 22(2): 170–179.
Richmond, M. K., Shepherd, J. L., Pampel, F. C., Wood, R. C., Reimann, B., & Fischer, L. 2014. Associations between substance use, depression, and work outcomes: An evaluation study of screening and brief intervention in a large employee assistance program. Journal of Workplace Behavioral Health, 29(1): 1–18.
Robinson, M. A. 2018. Using multi-item psychometric scales for research and practice in human resource management. Human Resource Management, 57(3): 739–750.
Schleicher, D. J., Baumann, H. M., Sullivan, D. W., Levy, P. E., Hargrove, D. C., & Barros-Rivera, B. A. 2018. Putting the system into performance management systems: A review and agenda for performance management research. Journal of Management, 44(6): 2209–2245.
Sharar, D., Pompe, J., & Lennox, R. 2012. Evaluating the workplace effects of EAP counseling. Journal of Health and Productivity, 6(12): 5–14.
Tu, Y. Y., & Wang, Y. H. 2011. The Establishment of Performance Measurement System and Indexes for S&T Research Institutes [in Chinese]. Journal of Technology Management, 16(3): 109–139.
Van Den Bergh, N. 2000. Where have we been? Where are we going? Employee assistance practice in the 21st century. Employee Assistance Quarterly, 16(1-2): 1–13.
Weis, D. 2018. Employee Assistance Programs and Behavioral Health Disability. In Handbook of Behavioral Health Disability Management: 289–318. Cham: Springer.
Williams, V. L., Eiseman, L. E., & Adamson, D. M. 2009. Demonstrating and Communicating Research Impact-Preparing NIOSH Programs for External Review. Santa Monica:RAND Corporation.
Metadata
Title
Evaluating the performance of employee assistance programs (EAP): a checklist developed from a large sample of public agencies
Authors
Yen-chen Hsu
Ching-wen Wang
Jun-bang Lan
Publication date
06-06-2019
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Asia Pacific Journal of Management / Issue 3/2020
Print ISSN: 0217-4561
Electronic ISSN: 1572-9958
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-019-09659-z

Other articles of this Issue 3/2020

Asia Pacific Journal of Management 3/2020 Go to the issue

OriginalPaper

Ambidexterity between low cost strategy and CSR strategy: contingencies of competition and regulation

OriginalPaper

Proactive government intervention, board gender balance, and stakeholder engagement in China and Europe

OriginalPaper

Coping with Commodification: Hybrid strategies in Asian law firms

OriginalPaper

Good connections with rivals may weaken a firm’s competitive practices: The negative effect of competitor ties on market orientation practices and innovative performance

OriginalPaper

Risk-taking in entrepreneurial decision-making: A dynamic model of venture decision

OriginalPaper

Go green! Exploring the organizational factors that influence self-initiated green behavior in the United Arab Emirates

Premium Partner

    Image Credits