The effects of work environment on job satisfaction in the nursing workforce

Health care experts are forecasting a major nursing shortage in the coming decades. Factors that improve nurses' job satisfaction will promote retention while those factors that negatively affect job satisfaction will lead to turnover and exacerbate the shortage problem. This study examines whether the environment in which nurses work moderates the effects of job and organizational climate variables on nurses' job satisfaction. This study also examines how support for various policy reforms varies across work environments. The results provide insights regarding the measurement and evaluation of job satisfaction and how structural aspects of the work environment relate to health care policy.;Three types of work environment moderator variables were tested: work setting, employment status (using four categories of full- and part-time employment) and, focusing only on nurses working in hospitals, the effect of job and organizational variables was assessed for nurses working in different hospital units.;In terms of employment setting, several between-group differences were noted. These differences focused mainly on the role of autonomy, workload stress, and interpersonal interaction. In terms of employment status, nurses working full time in a single job and nurses working part time in multiple jobs derive more satisfaction from autonomy when compared to nurses working in other employment status groups.;Focusing only on hospital nurses, several between-unit differences were identified. Most noteworthy, workload stress had a more severe negative impact on job satisfaction for nurses working in critical patient care environments such as OR/Recovery room units and intensive care units (ICU). Additionally, autonomy did not significantly impact job satisfaction for these critical care ICU nurses.;The views of nurses regarding a series of policy reform strategies were assessed. The reforms focused on issues of workload, benefits, recruitment, and safety. Nurses indicated strong support for all reforms. This support, an important finding itself, inhibited model performance and convergence. Despite these problems, safety policies, although well supported among all nurses, were more strongly supported among nurses reporting lower levels of resource adequacy and more stressful workloads.;The findings have implications for policies aimed towards improving retention. Targeted approaches to structuring work environments and policy are suggested.