A Model of Working Happiness under the Concept of Sufficiency Economy of the Healthcare Professionals during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The purposes of this study were 1. to survey the level of working happiness under the concept of the sufficiency economy of the healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 Pandemic, 2. to develop and confirm the model of working happiness under the concept of the sufficiency economy of the healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 Pandemic. To review the structures of each variable and avoid being inaccurate in presenting the structural equation model, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was run. The data collection instrument in this study was a developed close-ended questionnaire which was constructed based on the concepts of the Happy Workplace introduced by Thai Health Promotion Foundation and the concept of the Sufficiency Economy that His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej gave the initiative to guide the way of life for the Thai people. Data was collected with 318 healthcare professionals working in hospitals in Bangkok. This study found that the levels of all the eight working happiness components under the concept of the sufficiency economy of the healthcare professionals working in hospitals in Bangkok during the COVID-19 Pandemic were reported at high levels. The highest working happiness component was ‘Happy Family’
( = 3.56 and S.D. = 0.56) and the lowest one was ‘Happy Body’ ( = 3.44 and S.D. = 0.56). The result of confirmatory factor analysis of the structural equation model was a good fit with the empirical data which well explained all the working happiness components of the healthcare professionals working in hospitals in Bangkok during the COVID-19 Pandemic
(x²/df = 1.19, GFI = 0.95, AGFI = 0.92, CFI = 0.99, RMSEA = 0.02, NFI = 0.95). Considering the Factor Loading of working happiness components in the model, all factors were found significantly positive (P<0.001). The largest Factor Loading was ‘Happy Brain’. When looking at the coefficient of determination, the responsibility at work (R2 = 0.62) showed the highest score among the other variables and healthcare professionals' responsibility at work could, up to 62 percent, explain that the responsibility at work was the happiness encouraging the healthcare professional to enjoy their new discoveries. Although ‘Happy Body’ was the component that had the smallest factor loading among all the variables, Factor Loadings of all the eight working happiness components were positively found between 0.75 and 0.89. The way of life (R2 = 0.8) was the variable which could by a factor of 80 percent explain ‘happy body’.