Summary
“Is satisfaction a direct predictor of nursing turnover? Modeling the relationship between satisfaction expressed intention and behavior in a longitudinal cohort study” is the article written by Murrells, Robinson, and Griffiths for Human Resources for Health in 2008. In this work, job satisfaction and nurses’ intentions are identified as possible predictors of working as a nurse.
A definite number of nurses have been chosen for the project and were surveyed for three years. They were questioned, and their answers were analyzed by means of two methods, ANOVA and MANOVA. The results of the investigation proved that nurses’ intentions have higher scores in comparison to the scores connected with job satisfaction. Still, job satisfaction should be also identified as one of the major predictors of why nurses want to leave. This is why when analyzing nursing turnover intent, both, job satisfaction and intentions, should be used as helpful markers of future nursing. The authors conclude that it is necessary to develop some retention strategies in order to identify the main peculiarities of nurses’ work and clear up the true reasons of departure based on such aspects as development, mentoring, and professional support (Murrells, Robinson, & Griffiths, 2008).
Problem
Nursing turnover is considered to be a basic problem in the article under analysis. The authors find it necessary to investigate possible predictors of why nurses want to leave or change their working places in order to continue researching some possible improvements of working conditions. The main background of the problem is the fact that according to the existing theory of planned behavior, job satisfaction, as an attitudinal variable, may have an indirect effect on the nurses’ decision to leave or stay, and intentions usually have a direct effect on this kind of decision (Murrells, Robinson, & Griffiths, 2008). Taking into consideration the facts given above, it is possible to say that the problem in the article under consideration is the inability to identify what is more important in nursing turnover, job satisfaction or intentions, and the necessity to clear up how effective or not effective such factors like education, development, support, relationships, etc. for nurses can be.
Purpose Statement
Nursing turnover is a serious topic for discussion because of its importance for society; and if such factors like intentions and job satisfaction remain to be some kind of push factors of nurses’ decisions to leave, change, or stay in an organization, both of them, their strong and weak aspects, and their relations to turnover have to be investigated among nurses with 3-, 6-, 18-, and 36-month-long experiences.
Hypothesis/Research Question
The research question the authors want to give an answer to in the article is “what factor (job satisfaction or intention) has a direct effect on nursing turnover and which one is an indirect predictor of the process?” The results of the investigation help to create the following hypothesis in the article by Murrells, Robinson, and Griffiths (2008): job satisfaction, as well as expressed intentions and nurse behavior at different periods of practice (3, 6, 18, and 36 months), is a predictor of nursing turnover (job satisfaction is characterized by indirect effect, and intention has a direct effect on turnover) by means of which such issues like payment, relationships, support, development, and care quality have to be considered and improved in accordance with nurses’ expectations and demands in order to promote successful and qualified health care.
Significance to Nursing
Murrells, Robinson, and Griffiths have made a powerful attempt to contribute to the sphere of nursing by discussing such a serious topic in their articles like nursing turnover and its relation to job satisfaction and nurses’ intentions. Nursing turnover is considered to be an indicator of the importance of this job in the current labor market. There are many healthcare organizations that are bothered with an idea that nurses may leave their jobs because of a variety of reasons. There is a necessity to create appropriate working conditions and follow what can make a nurse chance a place of work and in what period nurses are eager to make such kind of changes. For a long period of time, a number of investigations have been made to understand the peculiarities of nursing turnover. Researchers from different countries and with different perspectives offer their own ideas on how it is possible to control nursing turnover and influence its outcomes. One of the most common opinions among all researchers is the fact that job satisfaction does have an impact on turnover.
The article under analysis focuses on job satisfaction as the reason for nursing turnover. However, additionally, the authors introduce intention as another crucial factor of turnover that cannot be neglected due to its possible direct effects. Intentions differ at different periods of time: from 6 to 18 months, nurses do care about their relationships and pay; and 3-year-old experienced nurses pay more attention to such factors as work-life interface, development, care, and available resources (Murrells, Robinson, & Griffiths, 2008).
In general, the article by Murrells, Robinson, and Griffiths is a significant source of information in the sphere of nursing as it does explain the peculiarities of job satisfaction and intentions and also promotes further investigation in the nursing turnover field.
Reference
Murrells, T., Robinson, S., & Griffiths, P. (2008). Is satisfaction a direct predictor of nursing turnover? Modeling the relationship between satisfaction, expressed intention and behavior in a longitudinal cohort study. Human Resources for Health, 6(22), 1-12. Web.