JOB SATISFACTION AND TURNOVER INTENTION AMONG NURSES WORKING IN PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITALS IN SAUDI ARABIA

Abstract

Background: Job satisfaction among nurses is essential for all health care systems to maintain a stable workforce and overcome the shortage of nurses (Al-Dossary et al., 2012). The productivity of nurses is directly linked to their sense of job satisfaction resulting in positive patient outcomes. Job dissatisfaction has been recognized as the primary reason for nursing instability and turnover, thereby contributing to the shortage of nurses (Hayes et al., 2010). Furthermore, nurse turnover is costly and detrimental to healthcare organizations (Richards, 2016). Nurses’ perceptions of their value will be realized if job satisfaction and turnover intention assessment for psychiatric nurses in Saudi Arabia are addressed. This is especially imperative as they may compare themselves to colleagues working in other governmental hospitals. Purpose: The purpose of this quantitative study is to investigate the relationship between job satisfaction and turnover intention among nurses who are working in psychiatric hospitals in Saudi Arabia. Theoretical Framework: The Herzberg’s Motivation Theory, or Two Factor Theory guided this research study. Methods: A cross-sectional, descriptive, correlational design was used to obtain data from a convenience sample of nurses in Saudi Arabia. A researcher-developed demographic questionnaire, and two standardized instruments were used: the Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire and the Withdrawal Cognition Scale. Data was analyzed by using the Kruskal Wallis, Spearman Correlation and the Multiple Moderated Regression (MMR). Results: A sample size of one hundred and sixty-one psychiatric nurses were obtained and used for analysis. The researcher found a high negative correlation ( r = -0.72, p < 0.001) between job satisfaction and turnover intention, indicating that higher satisfaction lowers turnover intention to leave psychiatric hospitals among nurses. The researcher also found that the higher job satisfaction dimensions company policies, quality of supervision, relations with colleagues and rate of pay, the lower turnover intention to leave the psychiatric hospitals (r = -0.47, r = -0.56, r = -0.61, r = -0.41, p <0.001). Findings also indicated a significant difference of job satisfaction (X2 = 34.49, p <0.001) and turnover intention (X2 = 27.77, p < 0.001) across different departments (emergency, inpatient, outpatient, and other) in Saudi Arabian psychiatric hospitals. The influence of religious beliefs on the decision to leave the job only had a partially negative moderation relationship between job satisfaction and turnover intent ( t = -3.63, p < 0.001). Conclusions: These results underline the significance of job satisfaction and its components in connection to psychiatric nurses' turnover intention. The findings of this study stand to give healthcare organizations and policymakers insightful information that may be used to create plans and actions that increase job satisfaction and lower turnover rates in psychiatric institutions in Saudi Arabia. The conclusions of this researcher through this study also emphasize the need to take departmental variations and religious beliefs into account when determining and addressing turnover intention in the workforce of psychiatric nurses.