Job satisfaction among nurses: a literature review
Introduction
The widespread nursing shortage and nurses’ high turnover has become a global issue (Kingma, 2001) which is of increasing importance to both the developed and developing countries (Cavanagh, 1990; Blegen, 1993; Hancock, 1998; Lee, 1998; Aiken et al., 2001; Fang, 2001; Lu et al., 2002). In light of this, concern about recruitment and retention of nursing staff is increasing in a number of countries (Lundh, 1999). While numerous factors have been linked to nurses’ turnover, job satisfaction is the most frequently cited (Cavanagh and Coffin, 1992; Blegen, 1993; Irvine and Evans, 1995), and therefore merits attention. This review examines the extensive empirical literature regarding nurses’ job satisfaction and its associated factors.
Section snippets
The definition of job satisfaction
Job satisfaction is a topic of wide interest to both people who work in organizations and people who study them. It is a most frequently studied variable in organizational behaviour research, and also a central variable in both research and theory of organizational phenomena ranging from job design to supervision (Spector, 1997). The traditional model of job satisfaction focuses on all the feelings that an individual has about his/her job. However, what makes a job satisfying or dissatisfying
Identification of the literature
The literature relating to job satisfaction and nurses was identified through electronic databases. The electronic databases used to obtain the relevant literature were: CINAHL (1982–2004), Medline (1966–2004), PsycINFO (1974–2004) and British Nursing Index (1985–2004). Some databases in Chinese such as China Medical Academic Conference (1985–2004) and China Academic Journal (1985–2004) were also used. To maximize the amount of relevant literature, key phrases and similar phrases were utilized
Sources of nurses’ job satisfaction
Given that job satisfaction has been found to be related to performance within the work setting (Landeweerd and Boumans, 1988), it is not surprising that the concept of job satisfaction has attracted much attention. Researchers have attempted to identify the various components of job satisfaction, measure the relative importance of each component of job satisfaction and examine what effect these components have on workers’ productivity (Burnard et al., 1999). A range of findings derived from
Effects of job satisfaction of nurses on absenteeism, burnout, turnover and intention to quit
Absenteeism is an important problem for health-care providers because it is costly and related to preventable job stress (Matrunola, 1996). The impact of job satisfaction upon nursing absenteeism, burnout and nurses’ intention to quit and turnover has been explored in a number of research studies, however, the findings are equivocal.
Siu's (2002) study of nurses in Hong Kong found that involvement (the degree of commitment displayed towards employees by the organization) (, ), job
Related factors to job satisfaction of nurses
Job satisfaction is a complex phenomenon, as evidenced by the many related factors identified in the studies already discussed. The identification of these factors and exploration of their effects on job satisfaction has the potential to refine the theoretical models of nurses’ job satisfaction and aid the development of management interventions (Blegen, 1993). Blegen's (1993) meta-analysis found that job satisfaction was most strongly associated with stress () and organizational
Conclusion
Most member states of the WHO have reported nurse resource difficulties (Kingma, 2001). Developed countries are faced with the double challenge of having an ageing nurse workforce and increasing demand for nursing care from an ageing population (Buchan, 2001). International migration of nurses has increased as nurses pursue opportunities for improved pay and opportunities in the wake of global liberalization of trade spurred on by developed countries increasing their international recruitment
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