Page 300 - Encyclopedia of Nursing Research

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In early studies of organizations, work-
Job SatiSfaction ers’ liking or disliking their jobs usually was
labeled morale. Midway through the twenti-
eth century, researchers began to develop both
Job satisfaction is the degree to which general and dimension-specific measures
individuals like their jobs. It has been stud- of satisfaction and dissatisfaction. General
ied extensively from multiple perspectives, or global measures estimate an individual’s
including economics, psychology, nurs- overall feelings about the job. In dimension-
ing, sociology, and organization science. specific measures, subconstructs distinguish
Researchers have studied job satisfaction as satisfaction about specific facets of the job,
a dependent variable in assessing the impact such as the work or task, pay and benefits,
of organizational changes or as an inter- administration, and, for nurses, dimensions
vening variable with multistaged models of such as professional status, nurse–physician
employee turnover, retention, or absentee- relationships, and quality of care.
ism. More recently nurses’ job satisfaction is Global job satisfaction is measured by
being examined, along with variables such items that directly ask about the job over-
as nurse staffing, autonomy, empowerment, all, either in single items or in multiple item
safety climate, and burnout, as part of the scales. Scales measuring global job satis-
work context that affects patient care out- faction are often developed from subsets of
comes such as patient satisfaction, length of the Brayfield and Rothe (1951) instrument.
stay, adverse events, mortality, and costs. Dimension-specific tools measuring nursing
Job satisfaction is a complex construct job satisfaction include similar components.
with multiple conceptual influences. Among The McCloskey–Mueller Satisfaction Scale
the most important influences are Maslow’s (Mueller & McCloskey, 1990) includes extrin-
(1954) Hierarchy of Needs and Hertzberg, sic rewards (salary, vacation, and benefits),
Mausner, and Bynderman’s (1959) Motivator- scheduling, balance of family and work,
Hygiene Theory. As a complex construct, job coworkers, interaction opportunities, pro-
satisfaction has both perceptual and attitudi- fessional opportunities, praise and recog-
nal components, both an evaluation of how nition, and work control and responsibility.
well a job meets one’s needs and an affective The Index of Work Satisfaction (IWS; Stamps,
orientation to the job (Tovey & Adams, 1999). 1997) includes task, interaction, decision
As a perceptual construct, job satisfaction making, autonomy, professional status, and
reflects an evaluation of the extent to which pay. The nurse job satisfaction instrument
the job meets one’s expectations and needs, endorsed by the National Quality Forum, the
ranging from physiological and safety needs Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing
to self-actualizing career development. As Work Index (PES-NWI) (Lake, 2002), includes
a general attitudinal construct, job satisfac- nurse participation in hospital affairs; nurs-
tion reflects a positive affective orientation ing foundations for quality of care; nurse
toward work and the organization, whereas manager ability, leadership, and support
job dissatisfaction reflects a negative affec- of nurses; staffing and resource adequacy;
tive orientation. and collegial nurse–physician relations.