Job Satisfaction, Leader Empowering Behaviors and Work Engagement Among Nurses in Tertiary Hospitals, Kunming, the People’s Republic of China

  

Job Satisfaction, Leader Empowering Behaviors and Work Engagement Among Nurses in Tertiary Hospitals, Kunming, the People’s Republic of China

Duan Jinmei

By Amornteb  Intasorn

Abstract

Work engagement is very helpful to optimize effective outcomes and quality of care in healthcare and nursing services. This descriptive correlational research aimed to examine the level of job satisfaction, leader empowering behaviors and work engagement, and to identify the relationships between work engagement and its two related factors including job satisfaction and leader empowering behaviors among nurses in seven tertiary hospitals of Kunming, the People’s Republic of China. The sample was 418 nurses having worked at least one year in these seven tertiary hospitals in Kunming. Data were collected using
a questionnaire consisting of four parts: demographic data, Index of Work Satisfaction Scale (IWS), and Leader Empowering Behavior Questionnaire (LEBQ)

The results of this study showed as follows: 1) the overall job satisfaction was at
the second quartiles of the possible total score; 2) the overall head nurses’ leader empowering behaviors and its six dimensions as perceived by nurses were at a high level; 3)the overall work engagement and its three dimensions among nurses were at a low level; 4) there was a strong positive relationship between job satisfaction and work engagement; and 5) there was a moderate positive relationship between leader empowering behaviors and work engagement.

The findings of this research presented basic information for nursing administrators to develop strategies to maintain leader empowering behaviors of head nurses and improve job satisfaction in order to increase work engagement among nurses in seven tertiary hospitals of Kunming, the People’s Republic of China

 

Objectives of the study

1. Examine the levels of JS and WE among nurses and head nurses’ LEB as perceived by nurses

2. Identify the relationships between WE and its two related factors including JS and LEB among nurses

 

Methodology

Population and Sample

The population of this study was 4,897 temporary nurses in seven tertiary hospitals in Kunming. The multistage sampling (Lo Biondo Wood & Haber, 2010) was used to select departments from hospitals, then clinical units were randomly chosen from the departments, Afterward, to select the sample, 444 temporary nurses who had worked at least for one year at the current unit were chosen from clinical units. After the questionnaires were distributed, finally, 426 questionnaires were returned (95.95%), and 418 (94.14%) of them were completed for data analysis.

 

 Research Instruments

The following instruments were used in this study:

1. Demographic data form includes working department, gender, age, marital status, educational level, work duration, work hours per week, and income per month.

2. Chinese version of the 9-item Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) includes three dimensions: (1) vigor (3 items), (2) dedication (3 items), and (3) absorption (3 items). The items are scored on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from “0 = never” to “6 = always”.

3. Chinese version of the 44-item Index of Work Satisfaction Scale (IWS) (Part B) consists of six dimensions: (1) pay (6 items), (2) professional status (7 items), (3) interaction (10 items), (4) task requirements (6 items), (5) organizational policies (7 items), and (6) autonomy (8 items). The responses of each question range from “1 = strongly disagree” to “7 = strongly agree”.

4. The 17-item Leader Empowering Behavior Questionnaire (LEBQ) includes six components: (1) delegation of authority (3 items), (2) account ability (3 items), (3) self-directed decision making (3 items), (4) information sharing (2 items), (5) skill development (3 items), and (6) coaching for innovative performance (3 items). The items are measured on a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging from “1= strongly disagree” to “7 = strongly agree”. The LEBQ was translated into the Chinese version by the researcher using translation and back-translation methods (Waltz, Strickland, & Lenz, 2005) without any modification.

 

Data Collection Procedures

Data were collected using questionnaires during February to April, 2016 in seven tertiary hospitals in Kunming, the P. R. China. The researcher select departments from hospitals, then randomly choose clinical units from departments while the temporary nurses were selected from clinical units. The researcher asked for four coordinators and provided them relevant research information. After the subjects completed the questionnaires, the researcher or the coordinators went to each unit and collected the questionnaires with sealed envelopes within two weeks.

 

Data Analysis Procedures

Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data in this study. (1) The demographic data, the levels of JS, LEB, and WE were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation. (2) Pearson’s Correlation was used to test the correlation between JS and WE, and Spearman’s rank-order correlation was used to analyze the relationship between LEB and WE.

 

Ethical considerations

The research proposal and data collection were approved by the Research Ethical Committee of the Faculty of Nursing, Chiang Mai University. Before data collection, a research consent form was sent to the subjects. They were informed that participation in the study was voluntary and they had the right to refuse, stop or withdraw from this study at any time without being punished or losing any benefits. A statement was included in a cover letter to guarantee confidentiality and anonymity of individual responses. Information provided by the subjects was only used for study and kept confidential. The results of the study were presented as a group.

Results

The results showed that 418 subjects were from eight main clinical departments and the largest group of subjects was working in medical departments (34.22%). Most of the subjects were female (96.42%), and over half of them were married (59.09%). The age of the subjects ranged from 21 to 52 years old with average age of 29.79 (SD = 6.27), and the majority of them (66.99%) were aged between 21 – 30 years old. More than half of the subjects held a bachelor’s degree (57.18%). Most ofthe subjects (74.16%) had worked less than 10 years with work durations ranging from 1 to 36 years, with a mean of 8.14 years (SD = 6.90). The majority of the subjects (67.70%) worked 40 – 50 hours per week. The incomes of 55.01% of the subjects were between 3,000 – 5,000 RMB/ month.

 

Conclusion

The results of this study indicated that overall JS was at the second quartile, which represents a low level of JS, and overall head nurses’ LEB was at a high level. However, the overall WE was at a low level. There was a statistically significant strong positive relationship between JS and WE. Similarly, there was a statistically significant moderate positive relationship between LEB and WE.